LB 

1555 







•'^Z^-.' 






o 0^ 






^-^> .^^^• 

.^^^.. 



-i^"^ 















^^ i 



^'•, '-'■ 



% 






\' * 












V- V^ 



.*" •''*.. '* 









'^^. .^^"^ 



^ v^ 



.'K' 



.-0" .V 






.^^^ 



- 






.-^\ 



•0- 



%'i ;::''• ^^ . ^%;>'::f^'^ 



^/-^ 












'^'^ ^ -'f 




, ^^V. ^"-^ A^ 




■*-- \ ■'' ^' 


'■>. V*^ 


': '"^0^ 




^:^^qk^/ %v 


--/- 


o 


o 




•n^ 




^'''^ \V 




,^ v>^. 






^■;^:'"'\'^."V^-^;-^.'^ 



vX"*' 






.^■ 



y- ^ . ,-=" -• xr -v 






•^ "^^'^"'-^ ^:^ '^ '% 






\,o^' 



\ 












o> 



'V^ ^^M:^\ 'U. .V, .^ ■;^ .'N^' 


















THE 



TEACHER TAUGHT; 

OR 



THE PRINCIPLES AND MODES 



OF 



TEACHING 



BY EMERSON DAVIS 



You have much to learn, even in learning only what others have thought.' 

Browne. 



BOSTON: 
MARSH, CAPEN, LYON, AND WEBB 

1840. 



idisss- 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1840, by 

Marsh, Capen, Lyon, and Webb, 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



U( I A 4 



EDUCATION PRESS. 



PREFACE. 



If the appearance of a new book were an uncommon 
event, there would be a propriety in giving to the pubHc 
the history of its origin and progress. It would gratify 
curiosity, and might prove a stimulus to others to become 
authors. But at present there is no need of such a stim- 
ulant ; and no one is curious to know what induced you to 
send forth a small volume, to be justled aside, and per- 
haps buried beneath a mouldering pile of ephemeral ht- 
erature. 

In 1833, I published a small volume for the benefit of 
the Teachers of Common Schools in this vicinity, called 
' The Teacher's Manual ;' I aimed at nothing more 
than making teachers acquainted with the different and 
most approved methods of instructing children in the ru- 
diments of knowledge. I have since found that teachers 
need to be taught principles as well as modes ; I have 
therefore merged that book in this ; and since the plan of 
this differs from that, and only a small portion of it is in- 
troduced into this, I have given it a new name. 

I have endeavored to enter the school-house with the 
teacher at the commencement of his school, to tell him 
how to arrange his school, how to manage the internal 
affairs of his little family, and how to instruct each class. 
I am aware that much has been published within a few 



IV PREFACE. 



years on the subject of teaching ; general principles have 
been discussed ; and the principles of classical and other 
seminaries, holding a higher rank than Common Schools, 
have pubhshed their modus operandi. A skilful and in- 
telligent teacher will extract from this mass of matter 
much that he can apply to the business of Common-School 
teaching, but there are very few who take the trouble to 
select the materials from all these publications, and to di- 
gest a plan for themselves. It has been my purpose to 
come directly to the aid of the Common-School teach- 
er, to lay out his work, and to tell him how it is to be 
done. How well I have succeeded, remains to be deter- 
mined by the experiments of those teachers who shall 
attempt to follow out the directions here given. I have 
not covered the whole ground ; there are many questions 
which teachers ask, which I have omitted entirely, partly 
because they are of minor importance, and partly because 
it would make the book larger than it seems desirable it 
should be. 

The book is published with a belief that something of 
the kind is needed, and with a hope that it may be useful. 

E. Davis. 

Westfield, July 8th, 1839. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 



Page 
Instructing Children an Honorable Occupation. — Mutual Duties 

of Parents and Teachers, 7 

CHAPTER H. 
Qualifications of Teachers, 12 

CHAPTER HI. 
The Arrangement of a School. — Government, 18 

CHAPTER IV. 

Differences in the Minds of Children. — First Impressions. — Modes 
of Teaching the Alphabet, 24 

CHAPTER V. 

Orthography. — Causes of Bad Spelling, and the Remedy. — Modes 
of Spelling, 33 

CHAPTER VI. 

Importance of Understanding the Meaning of Words. — Modes 
of Teaching Definitions, 39 

CHAPTER VII. 

Reading — Mechanical, Intellectual, and Rhetorical, 45 

CHAPTER VHI. 

Penmanship. — Anecdotes, 50 

1# 



CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER IX. 

Page 



Geography. — Diversities of Opinion respecting Introductory Les- 
sons. — Mode of Teaching, 53 

CHAPTER X. 

Errors respecting English Grammar. — Can Children study it ? — 
Modes of Teaching it, 58 

CHAPTER XI. 

Arithmetic. — Mode of Teaching. — Fractions, 66 

CHAPTER XH. 

Visible Illustrations. — Use of Apparatus, 70 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Moral Education. — Its Importance. — The Bible, 73 



THE 



TEACHER TAUGHT. 



CHAPTER I. 



Instructing Children an Honorable Occupation. — Mu- 
tual Duties of Parents and Teachers. 

It was said by Epictetus, that he who exalts the ?ouls 
of the citizens confers a greater benefit upon his city than 
he who raises the roofs of the houses ; for it is better to 
have great souls living in small habitations, than ignorant 
men burrowing in great houses. This idea was not origi- 
nal with Epictetus, nor did it die with him. It seems to 
be the spontaneous reflection of every considerate mind, 
that " learning is preferable to wealth." 

If improvements in the arts and sciences could be in- 
troduced among a rude and uneducated people, they would 
be of little use ; for there must be a corresponding im- 
provement in the intelligence and morals of a community, 
in order to render their introduction profitable. If a 
savage should be supplied with an abundance of money, 
or with ample means for procuring it, he would remain a 
savage still. He would squander his money in the grati- 
fication of his savage propensities, rather than in the pur- 
chase of any thing that would benefit him as a rational, or 
as an accountable being. 

The wealth of a nation does not consist in the number 
of acres in the national domain, nor in the greatness of 



8 INSTRUCTING CHILDREN, AN 

its population, nor in the fertility of its soil, but in the 
amount of educated mind and moral worth. Hence a 
nation, comparatively few in numbers, may possess more 
wealth, and more physical and moral power, than one 
more populous. England, with its science and morals, is 
mightier far than untutored China, which exceeds it twen- 
ty times in territory and in population. 

This being true, it follows that those who labor to 
exalt the souls of the rising generation, confer upon their 
country a greater benefit than those who have power to 
convert log houses into stately edifices, or the " spinning- 
wheel" into a woollen-factory. The business of the 
school-teacher is to exalt the souls of the rising genera- 
tion, and to prepare them to receive and appreciate the 
improvements made by others, or to make further dis- 
coveries. Who will call this an unimportant work ? Who, 
that has any just conception of the value of educated 
mind, will pronounce the occupation of a teacher to be 
servile, or mean ? I have heard of mothers who were 
wont to commit their infant offspring to the care of nurses, 
not because they were unable themselves to take care 
of them, but because it would be ungenteel. If there be 
individuals in the community who have such views, 
(diough I hope they are ''few and far between,") they will 
regard a school-teacher as deserving no more sympathy 
or esteem than he who tends their flocks. 

In this country the teacher of youth is not generally 
neglected, nor are his services greatly underrated. I know 
there are some parents who do not appreciate properly 
the labors of their children's teacher ; consequently they 
do not manifest for him the sympathy, nor extend to him 
the aid they ought. But all this proceeds more from igno- 
rance, than from intentional neglect. 

The following fact brings into view the feelings of 
teachers, and the good that may be done by speaking to 
them an encouraging word. A young teacher, a few 
years ago, went into a neighboring State to keep school. 
The inhabitants of the district exhibited no interest in the 
school, nor any sympathy for the teacher. They were 
"busy here and there" with their farms and merchandise, 



HONORABLE OCCUPATION. 9 

presuming the school would take care of itself. The 
clergyman of the parish, however, was accustomed to 
invite the young man to dine with him every Saturday, 
and, on those occasions, he advised him how to proceed 
in the management of his school, and gave him many use- 
ful hints in regard to himself. A few years after, the 
teacher became a judge in one of our largest States ; 
and meeting, on a certain occasion, the clergyman who 
had in his boyhood so hospitably entertained and coun- 
selled him, he expressed his warm gratitude for a favor 
so great and so undeserved. He said, " The advice you 
gave me, and your interest in my welfare, proved a stimu- 
lus to exertion, which has raised me to my present rank." 

After all that has been said respecting the careless in- 
difference of parents towards the Common Schools, it may 
be said, I believe with truth, that they are willing to do 
for schools all that they suppose to be necessary. Let 
them be convinced that valuable improvements can yet 
be made in our Common Schools, and they will aftbrd 
w^hatever assistance may be needed. 

The teacher who justly appreciates the importance of 
educating the youthful mind, does not labor for the sake 
of being praised. It should not disturb his peace of mind, 
though he meet with many obstacles, and have much that 
is calculated to depress his spirits. It will be a consola- 
tion to know that his occupation, in the utility of its re- 
sults, is second to none save the ministry of reconciliation. 
" For my own part," says a writer on education, " I doubt 
whether there be a more useful set of men in society, than 
good instructers. If usefulness constitutes respectability, 
and talents deserve reward, I am confident none should 
rank before them, or receive more for their exertions." 

Thales, Pythagoras, Euchd, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, 
and a long hst of distinguished men of ancient times, 
together with Hutton, Milton, Johnson, Dwight, and a 
multitude of similar characters in modern times, will be 
remembered as eminent teachers so long as literature 
exists, and genius is esteemed. Egypt, Greece, and 
Rome were raised from barbarism to a half-civilized state 
by the labors of some of the ancient teachers. They 



10 MUTUAL DUTIES OF 

were highly vakied by their countrymen. Philip of 
Macedon said to Aristotle, when he sent his son Alex- 
ander to his school, '' I rejoice not so much that a son is 
born to me, as that he is born in your day, that he may 
be benefited by your instructions." Alexander afterwards 
said, " he had no less affection for Aristotle than for his 
own father ; for from one he derived the blessing of hfe, 
from the other the blessing of a good life." 

Plato said, " If the public are benefited in any wise by 
my acquirements, it is not to me, but to my teacher, 
Theodosius, to whom they are indebted." Ask the king 
on his throne, the statesman, the learned philosopher, and 
the theologian, from whom they received the first rudi- 
ments of learning, and they will say, " From ray old 
schoolmaster. He took us when children, expanded 
the powers of our minds, rectified our unruly passions, 
and infused into us a love of knowledge, and an ambi- 
tion to explore the boundless fields of learning." 

The teacher who acts well his part, is indeed a very 
honorable character. His influence extends from the 
cottage to the palace. He is in fact the ruler of the 
people ; he holds the twigs in his hand, and can bend 
them which way he will. Let the well-qualified and 
faithful teacher receive an ample support, as well as all 
due honor ; let the incompetent, and the unfaithful, if 
such there are, be removed from a station so responsible, 
and in which they have an opportunity of doing incalcu- 
lable mischief. 

Another circumstance which attaches great importance 
to the business of teaching, is the relation the teacher sus- 
tains to his pupils. He stands in the parents' place ; 
he is employed by them to assist in training up their 
children ''in the way in which they should go." The 
young mind is intrusted to his care to mould and fash- 
ion ; it belongs to him to develope its powers, and to 
give it a kind of first impulse, that shall send it forth in 
the pursuit of knowledge and virtue, or accelerate it in 
the way to ruin. 

If such be the relation of the teacher to his pupils, it 
follows, that an interesting relation also subsists between 



PARENTS AND TEACHERS. 11 

the teacher and the parents. The former is the assistant 
of the latter. Out of this relation grow mutual duties. 
Parents are bound, 

1. To pay teachers a fair compensation for their ser- 
vices. If well qualified for their office, they are enthled 
to higher wages than persons engaged in agriculture, or 
in the mechanic arts, because they are obliged to incur 
a greater expense than they in acquiring a knowledge 
of their profession. The young man who learns a trade 
often receives wages during the whole, or a part of his 
apprenticeship. He who is preparing to teach, not only 
receives no compensation, but is often at much expense. 
He cannot afford to qualify himself expressly for teach- 
ing, unless he receives a greater compensation than he 
can get for doing that which requires no learning or skill. 

2. Parents ought to treat the teacher of their children 
with respect. It matters not, whether the teacher be in 
all respects worthy or not ; so long as he holds the relation 
of a teacher to the children, and of an assistant to 
the parents in qualifying their children for the active 
scenes of life, there ought to subsist between them an 
entire harmony of feeling. Children should never dis- 
cover that their parents send them to a teacher whom 
they do not respect. If children have faults, or infirmi- 
ties, or any excellences that would be useful to the teach- 
er to know, he should be informed ; on the other hand, if 
the teacher discover faults in a child of which the parent 
is ignorant, he should disclose the fact. 

Teachers also are bound, 

1 . To speak kindly of parents in the presence of the 
children. 

2. They ought to consult with the parents respecting 
an indolent, mischievous, or disobedient child. It is not 
advisable generally to punish a child, certainly not with 
severity, until the parents have been informed respecting 
the matter. And, 

3. Teachers should not stand aloof from those parents 
whom they suppose to be somewhat unfriendly. Let an 
interview be sought with such ; it may remove hard feel- 
ings, and be of essential benefit to the school. 



12 QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS. 



CHAPTER II. 

Qualifications of Teachers. 

There is no occupation in which we can engage, that 
does not require some pecuhar quahficalions to enable us 
to pursue it with profit to ourselves or others. The 
shoemaker, the tailor, and the carpenter must serve an 
apprenticeship before they expect to succeed in their busi- 
ness. The physician must study long and carefully, be- 
fore we are willing to commit to his charge our sick chil- 
dren. Is it not as necessary that those who undertake to 
mould the juvenile mind, and to bring all its powers into 
proper action, should spend some time in learning how to 
perform an operation both delicate and difficult ? 

The following are some of the qualifications of a good 
school-teacher : — 

1. The Common-School teacher must have a critical 
knowledge of all the branches in which he instructs. I 
speak not now of the extent of a teacher's knowledge, 
but of its accuracy. There are many whose knowledge 
is sufficiently extensive, but who seem never to have in- 
vestigated any subject minutely. When they are close 
pressed, and required to tell why and wherefore a thing is 
as it is, they are constrained to confess their ignorance, 
or to give an indecisive answer. 

A teacher may understand a proposition so as to be- 
Heve its truth, and yet be utterly unable to explain it to 
the comprehension of a child. It is necessary that a 
teacher not only receive a truth into his mind, but he 
must shape it to his own mode of thinking, before he 
can present it to the mind of another. He receives an 
idea clothed in a peculiar phraseology ; but he cannot 
communicate it clearly to others, unless he is able to strip 
off its external covering, and to clothe it in a dress com- 



QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS. 13 

posed of such words and accompanied by such illustra- 
tions as a child can understand. Until he can do this, 
his knowledge is not critical and accurate. 

If food remain in the stomach undigested, the body will 
not be nourished ; in like manner knowledge is not useful, 
unless it be digested and incorporated with our trains of 
thought, so that we can use it when occasion requires. 

The mind of a child cannot receive abstruse opinions, 
nor digest complex or crude thoughts ; it can receive 
only simple ideas. A teacher should understand every 
proposition he attempts to teach so perfectly that he can 
analyze it, and present it by piece-meal. He must be 
able to strip the truth of every needless appendage, and 
bring it before the child's mind in the simplest form. 
Suppose the idea to be communicated is, that " x has 
two sounds, sharp hke ks, and flat like ^2." The young 
pupil knows what is meant by sharp knives, and flat stones, 
but he may be utterly unable to divine what is meant 
by a flat or a sharp x. Now there is a call for critical 
knowledge. The teacher may tell the child, that some 
noises are sharp, like a whistle, and others flat, like a rap 
upon a rock, or a log ; he may tell him that x in exalt 
sounds like gz^ as g z a 1 1 , while in excel it sounds like 
A;5, as e k s e 1 1 . The way will now be prepared to ask 
the child if he perceives any difference in the sound of 
eks and egz. If he does, he perceives that one gives a 
sharp and the other a flat sound. After the complex 
proposition has thus been analyzed, and the component 
parts presented to the juvenile mind, the way is prepared 
for presenting the complex idea that x has two sounds, a 
sharp and a flat. 

Almost every truth that is taught to children in a Common 
School must first be reduced to a simpler form. Hence it 
follows, that if a Common-School teacher is not prepared 
to teach accurately, he is not prepared to teach at all. 

2. A second qualification, essential to a good teacher, 
is the possession of a good degree of general knowledge. 
It is by many supposed that a teacher of children needs 
no information, except of the branches in which he in- 
structs. In schools where none of the children study 
2 



14 QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS. 

arithmetic, grammar, or geography, teachers are fre- 
quently employed who are profoundly ignorant of every 
thing except reading and spelling. Committees some- 
times approbate such teachers for a particular school. It 
is my belief that if a young man or woman cannot teach 
all the branches usually introduced into Common Schools, 
it is presumptive evidence that he or she is not a critical 
scholar, and cannot teach any thing properly. 

The teacher is employed to educate the mind of the 
children. He is to develope their powers, to try their 
strength, and to bring every faculty into exercise. How 
can he do it unless he has some knowledge of the mind ? 
It seems to me in the highest degree absurd to employ 
one who is ignorant of the philosophy of the mind, and 
set him to unfold its powers, and to give them a right 
impulse. I would not send my watch to a blacksmith to 
be repaired ; shall I send my child to one ignorant of the 
laws of mind to be educated ? 

A teacher will also be greatly benefited by a knowledge 
of natural philosophy, chemistry, and natural history. It 
will furnish him with a fund of materials for illustration, 
and enable him occasionally to interest and instruct chil- 
dren by explaining to them some of the common phe- 
nomena of iNature. 

Another advantage of much general information is, that 
it keeps a teacher from giving so much false instruction 
as he otherwise might. He whose knowledge is limited, 
is very likely to lay down partial, for universal truths. 
He may say that every pond or lake having an inlet must 
of course have an outlet ; that a pound is always sixteen 
ounces, or that brought is always an active verb. 

3. Another qualification of a good teacher is a love of 
learning. Those who feel no thirsting for knowledge 
themselves, will do very little to inspire children with a 
love of learning. '' It has been no uncommon thing to 
see school-teachers, as soon as the labors of the day 
were closed, engaging in scenes of amusement wholly 
foreign to their business, and suited to unfit them for the 
duties of the succeeding day." 

Children are creatures of imitation, and the spirit of 



QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS. 15 

a teacher is always more or less infused into his pupils. 
If he is full of life and energy, if his soul glows with a 
noble enthusiasm in the pursuit of knowledge, a similar 
spirit will pervade the school, and there will be a fellow- 
ship of kindred minds. The children will love their 
teacher, because he manifests so much zeal and interest 
in their welfare;. 

If, on the contrary, the teacher have no peculiar lov^e 
of learning, if he have no enthusiasm, he is likely to be 
dull, drowsy, late to school and early away. If, as he 
goes from house to house through the district, he mani- 
fest no special interest in the welfare of the children, 
there will be a sluggish spirit pervading the school, there 
will be more play than study, more books destroyed than 
learned, and in some cases more hurt than good done. 

4. Another qualification of a good teacher is an apt- 
ness to teach. One is said to be apt to teach, who is 
ingenious in devising ways and means for illustrating a 
truth that is not understood by the pupil ; who is quick 
to discern and appreciate a scholar's difficulty, and as 
quick in afibrding assistance. A child perhaps does not 
know the meaning of a word, or attaches to it a wrong 
meaning, and consequently gives a wrong answer. If the 
teacher is not quick to discern, he may explain again and 
again, and the child will remain in the dark as much as 
he was at first, and, finally, the teacher, in a fit of despair, 
may pronounce the child a dunce, when he himself is the 
greater dunce of the two. 

Any individual who has a tolerable share of patience, 
a love of learning, and a critical knowledge of what he 
attempts to teach, will, by practice, acquire a facility and 
an aptness in communicating knowledge. 

5. Another essential qualification of a school-teacher 
is self-government. There is scarcely any situation in 
which there is needed a more perfect self-control than in 
that of a school-teacher, when surrounded by a group of 
children and youth, whose minds are receiving impressions 
from every word and action of him who holds the respon- 
sible situation of Instructer. A child of peculiarly deli- 
cate feelings may be addressed with too much severity, 



16 QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS. 

or a dull scholar may be injured by being called a block- 
head. A teacher must have such entire command over 
himself that he can refrain from unjust and unnecessary 
rebuke, and also from a smile, if by it the well-disposed 
child will be grieved. If a child tries to do well, though 
he does poorly, he is not to be reprimanded. If he 
thinks he does all he can, the teacher ought not to treat 
him as a liar, nor should he proceed to rebuke and chas- 
tise him for his delinquency. A teacher should never 
appear to be angry ; it is better to let a child go unrebuk^d, 
than to do it in a passionate or unkind manner. Collisions 
between the teacher and pupils often arise from censure 
or praise bestowed without much judgement. Let the 
teacher learn not to speak unadvisedly with his lips. 

G. The last qualification I shall mention is good morals. 
Children must receive good and faithful moral instruc- 
tion, or it will be of comparatively little use to teach 
them the elements of human science. It is necessary to 
make as careful provision for the former as for the latter. 
Our laws very wisely provide that a school-teacher shall 
be a person of good moral character. It is not enough 
that he be a person of unexceptionable morals, merely 
free from vicious habits, but he should have some posi- 
tive excellences, and so much zeal that he shall improve 
occasions and opportunities to inculcate upon his pupils 
the obligation they are under to discharge tlie duties they 
owe to God and to their fellow-men. 

The following general remarks are borrowed from 
others, and introduced to corroborate some of the pre- 
ceding views. 

Dr. Watts makes the following remarks respecting some 
teachers : — ''There are some very learned men, who know 
much themselves, but who have not the talent of com- 
municating their knowledge ; or else they are very lazy, 
and will take no pains at it. Either they have an obscure 
and perplexed way of talking ; or they show their learning 
uselessly, and make a long periphrasis on every word of 
the book they explain ; or they cannot condescend to 
young beginners ; or they run presently into the elevated 
parts of the science, because it gives themselves greater 



QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS. 17 

pleasure ; or they are soon angry and impatient, and can- 
not bear with a few impertinent questions of a young, 
inquisitive, and sprightly genius." 

Miss Hannah More says, " There are three things 
in particular, which a school-teacher must not be without, 
— good sense, activity, and piety. Without the first, he 
will mislead others ; without the second, he will neglect 
them ; and without the third, though he may civilize, he 
will never Christianize them." 

Another author says, "It is of the highest importance, 
to select teachers who have learned to govern their own 
temper ; who unite firmness, decision of character, and 
stability, with mildness, patience, forbearance, and kind- 
ness of disposition ; who are not liable to be moved, 
either to vehemence, or to peevishness, sharpness, or ill- 
humor, by the waywardness of their children, or by the 
various difficulties of the task ; whose tone and man- 
ner, as well as feelings, shall be uniformly those of 
parental affection ; and who shall be disposed, from a 
sense of duty, to exercise constant vigilance in marking, 
and gently counteracting, every instance the children may 
exhibit of insubordination or disobedience, or of fretful- 
ness, selfishness, unkindness, or violence in their inter- 
course with each other." 

The same writer furthermore observes, " We need 
men, who are thoroughly acquainted with the branches 
they are employed and expected to teach ; and whose 
highest ambition, in the literary world, is to acquire the 
reputation of good schoolmasters. And this is a reputa- 
tion which in reahty far transcends the glory of the victor's 
wreath, or of the imperial crown ; for they are developing 
the powers of immortal spirits ; forming minds to act on 
a multitude of other minds ; preparing agents that may 
affect the destiny of a nation ; making impressions which, 
in their results, will be lasting as eternity ! Noble and 
responsible employment ! If they succeed well, theirs is 
the honor of contributing essentially to the happiness and 
usefulness of the rising generation ; the refinement and 
moral cultivation of the community ; the stability and glory 

of the Repubhc." 

2# 



18 ARRANGEMENT AND GOVERNMENT, 



CHAPTER III. 

Arrangement and Government. 

There is no one thing more conducive to despatch 
than system. Tlie mechanic, the farmer, and the mer- 
chant have usually a plan by which they are guided in 
their daily labor. 

It is very certain that he who has no plan of opera- 
tion fixed and settled in his own mind, but gives himself 
up to be directed by the varying circumstances of the 
day, will perform much less labor than one who has his 
course previously marked out, and whose constant aim is 
to adhere to it, with as much precision as possible. 

Every school-teacher should have a system, or plan, 
by which the labors of each day are regulated. It should 
not be one that is accidental or traditionary, but one 
which he thinks preferable to any other, and for adopting 
which, he can give definite, and to himself satisfactory 
reasons. 

The plan of a young teacher will not probably be as 
perfect as that of one who has had much experience. If, 
however, he loves his work, he will systematize his labors, 
so as to accomplish the most in the least time. The ill 
success of many teachers is occasioned by their destitu- 
tion of system. They have no fixed order of labor, and 
no fixed time for hearing the diflJerent recitations, and con- 
sequently some things are left undone each day, if the 
school is large, or else they are performed in so hurried a 
manner that their labor is lost. 

The first thing to be done towards systematizing a 
school, is to arrange the scholars in as few classes as 
possible. This is important for the teacher, as well as 
for the scholar. It diminishes the extent of surface 
over which the labor of the teacher is spread, and will 



ARRANGEMENT AND GOVERNMENT. 19 

enable him to increase the depth of his instructions ; and 
thus the pupil derives great advantage. If ten classes 
are to recite in three hours, the time allotted to each will 
be eighteen minutes ; if twelve classes recite in the same 
time, each will be occupied only fifteen minutes. Each 
scholar, will receive daily six minutes more instruc- 
tion, for the additional time allotted to a class is so much 
to each scholar in the class. 

There never need be more than five reading and spel- 
ling classes, and rarely more than four ; the first should 
read or spell twice daily ; the classes of younger "scholars 
should read three and four times. Besides these, there 
will be generally two classes in arithmetic, one in writing, 
one in geography, and one in English grammar. The 
number of daily recitations will vary from fifteen to twen- 
ty-four ; they will not, however, often exceed twenty, so 
that there will usually be ten recitations for each half of 
the day. 

If now five minutes be allotted for opening the school, 
either by prayer, reading a portion of Scripture, or sing- 
ing, as the case may be ; if five minutes more be allowed 
for a recess at the close of the first hour, during which 
the children may be allowed to stand up, or move about, 
or talk ; if, at the close of the second hour, the boys and 
girls, each, have a recess of five minutes, during which 
they may leave the house, if they choose, there will be 
left one hundred and sixty minutes to be spent in hearing 
ten classes. Each class will have sixteen minutes on an 
average ; but some classes will be larger than others, they 
therefore must be allowed more than sixteen minutes, and 
very small classes less. A teacher must exercise his 
own judgement respecting the portion of the whole time 
that is to be appropriated to each class. 

When the classes are arranged, an order of exercises 
should be made out, and put up in the school-room, so 
that each scholar may know precisely at what time he 
shall recite. When this is done, the teacher should make 
a special effort to hear each class at and within the time 
specified, and to impart as much instruction as possible 
during that period. 



20 ARRANGEMENT AND GOVERNMENT. 

It will be necessary that the teacher be always ready 
to answer any question that may be asked, without delay. 
If he is obliged to occupy time in school to study what 
he should have known before, it will derange the whole 
order of exercises for that portion of the day. Scholars 
should be stimulated to get their lessons so well, ajid to 
recite them so audibly, that no time may be wasted in 
repetition. If, however, a class have so little knowledge 
of the lesson, or are so dull and heedless, that they can- 
not finish it in the time allotted, the recitation should not 
be protracted beyond the limits assigned lo it, for by so 
doing anoUier class will be deprived of time which is 
their due, and one recitation will crowd so hard upon 
another, that the teacher will be in a hurry till the school 
closes. 

There is a disposition to introduce into schools other 
subjects than those which are common and elementary. 
One parent wants his child lo study philosophy ; another 
is anxious to have his children study history, botany, 
or chemistry. In this way a number of very small classes 
are introduced, which consume the teacher's time, and 
deprive those attending to common branches of that de- 
gree of attention they ought to receive. The better 
way to dispose of all this small matter is to omit some of 
the regular recitations on Wednesday and Saturday ; and 
on those days to instruct the whole school, or as many as 
desire it, on these subjects. Such an arrangement will 
give variety to the exercises, and increase the interest of 
the scholars. 

The ease with which a school is governed depends 
much on the systematic arrangement of the exercises. 
If the teacher has a plan, and carries it out in an orderly 
manner, the scholars will catch the spirit of the times, and 
be more orderly and quiet. 

It is my opinion that much of the insubordination of 
children in the Common School may be traced to some 
fault in the teacher. He is hasty or irritable, or exhibits 
a lack of dignity and self-possession which lowers him in 
the estimation of his pupils. 

Most teachers testify tliat girls are more easily gov- 



ARRANGEMENT AND GOVERNMENT. 21 

erned than boys ; which I think proceeds from some fault 
in the teacher, rather than in the boys. It is very com- 
mon for teachers to address boys in ruder, rougher, and 
coarser language, than they do girls ; boys too are often 
punished for offences which are overlooked in girls ; or 
they receive five blows when a female would receive but 
two. The boys, by being treated severely, are irritated 
and provoked to render evil for the evil they suppose they 
have received. I do not say that females are treated too 
leniently, but that boys are governed by more rigid and 
severe laws than females, which they consider unjust. I 
believe that boys are as easily governed as girls, provided 
they are governed by the same laws, and that those laws 
are administered in the same kind and courteous manner. 
Another circumstance which proves that the teacher's 
difficulty in governing proceeds from some fault in him- 
self, is the fact that females generally govern better than 
males. Why ? Some may say that boys have too much 
gallantry to be rude or disobedient to a female. It is a 
more satisfactory solution of the question to suppose that 
females can govern better than males ; because they use 
softer words, which turn away wrath, and a gentler man- 
ner, which heaps coals of fire on the heads of the stubborn. 
I will mention a fact related to me by an aged clergy- 
man, which goes to confirm the doctrine I advocate. On 
leaving college, forty years ago, he taught a select school 
a year or two in a neighboring State. He was told be- 
fore entering the school that he would have no difficulty 
except in controlling one boy, who was represented to be 
very turbulent. He learned that the boy had been often 
whipped, and otherwise punished with great severity. 
The boy was generally regarded as a nuisance to the 
school. My friend informed me, that when he entered 
the school he sought out the ugly boy, treated him with 
an attention somewhat marked, reposed confidence in him, 
and endeavored to induce a feeling of self-respect. The 
consequence was, that the boy conducted with great pro- 
priety, and studied that winter more than he ever had done 
before. The effort he made to educate himself, pro- 
cured for him the esteem and friendship of his teacher 



22 ARRANGEMENT AND GOVERNMENT. 

and fellow-pupils. He progressed rapidly in his studies, 
and commenced a course which has since elevated him to 
the office of a judge in a neighboring State. 

Teachers usually deem it necessary to lay down a 
complicated system of rules, or laws, with penalties that 
will be inflicted upon offenders. The teacher is often a 
stranger to his pupils, and enters the school with a fright- 
ful ferula under his arm, and at the close of the first day 
publishes his code of laws. The children often go home 
with an unfavorable impression respecting their new teach- 
er ; they feel as if he was more anxious to govern them, 
than to be their guide and friend. 

A teacher should not in any manner give countenance 
to the idea that he is more ambitious of governing, than 
of instructing his pupils. 

I advise every teacher to have as few laws as possible, 
and those of the most reasonable kind. It has seemed to 
me that this one law is sufficient ; others may think dif- 
ferently, but I can easily show that every thing reprehen- 
sible on the part of a pupil is a transgression of this one 
wholesome law : — 

JVo scholar shall be allowed to do any thing that shall 
prevent himself or others from deriving the greatest pos- 
sible benefit from the exercises of the school. 

This law will be seen by children and parents to be 
just and reasonable ; it must also be acknowledged that 
those who violate it deserve to be punished, provided 
it shall appear that they meant to do wrong. Children 
are full of life and animation, and do many things contrary 
to a very rigid code of laws, when, in fact, they were 
only acting out the buoyancy of feeling, without any 
criminal intention. In such cases they deserve no pun- 
ishment, unless childish heedlessness is a crime. 

Whenever a child in the Common School is called to 
an account for his conduct, the teacher should examine 
the matter as if he were that child's personal friend ; he 
should exhibit a tender concern for the good of the child, 
and an unfeigned regret that he is driven to the dreadful 
necessity of giving pain to one in whose welfare he feels 
the deepest interest. If such be the spirit of the teacher, 



ARRANGEMENT AND GOVERNMENT. 23 

it will do much towards disarming the most wilful child 
of his obstinacy. If, on the contrary, the teacher appears 
agitated or angry, he is not a suitable person to deal with 
an offending child ; less evil will result from allowing his 
misconduct to pass unnoticed, than from punishing him 
under the influence of passion. An ancient philosopher 
once said to his friend, " Take my servant and punish 
him, for I am angry !" 

Teachers should avoid uttering hasty or inconsiderate 
threats ; they are highly improper, and weaken their au- 
thority, and diminish the affection of their pupils. Moses 
on a certain occasion '' spoke unadvisedly with his lips, 
and it went ill with him ever after." It has gone ill with 
many teachers after having spoken to a child under the 
influence of anger. Let no one under the impulse of 
heated feelings assert what he will do ; let him wait till 
his mercury has fallen a few degrees, and then he will not 
promise more than he will perform. 

A child ought not to be punished until his offence has 
been fairly and fully investigated. Children that have been 
punished at school generally say they were innocent, or 
that they do not know for what they were punished. Let 
an examination of the case be had, and let the child under- 
stand distinctly the charge brought against him, and let 
him be permitted to speak in his own defence. 

There is one other thing essential to good government. 
Generally the examination and punishment of an offender 
should be private. Let the scholar be detained till the 
close of school. If the child be obstinate, his obstinacy 
will be increased by the presence of the school ; he will 
be stimulated to resist, or to answer the teacher impu- 
dently, when he would be pliant, and perhaps penitent, if 
examined privately. It may be proper, and necessary 
in some cases, to mention the result of such examination 
to the whole school. 

"Government without kindness is cruelty." "Youths 
treated with severity often become unmanageable. Such 
are not governed, but oppressed ; they see no act of 
kindness mingled with the duties required of them, and 
they make no kind returns." 



24 DIFFERENCES IN THE 



CHAPTER IV. 

Differences in the Minds of Children. — First Impres- 
sions. — Modes of Teaching the Alphabet. 

I HAVE no doubt there are original differences in the 
minds of children ; some have more natural fondness for 
study than others ; some minds develope themselves in 
the most unfavorable circumstances ; while others, with 
all the helps that can be afforded, make very slow progress. 

We are not to conclude that those who are at first 
exceedingly dull, will never make great proficiency in 
learning. The examples are numerous of persons who 
were very unpromising in childhood, but were distinguished 
in manhood for their great acquirements. 

Adam Clarke, D. D., was taught the alphabet with 
great difficulty. He was often chastised for his dulness ; 
It was seriously feared by his parents that he never would 
learn ; he was eight years old before he could spell words 
of three letters. He was distinguished for nothino- but 
rolling large stones. At the age of eight, he was placed 
under a new teacher, who, by the kindness of his manner, 
and by suitable encouragement, aroused the slumbering en- 
ergies of his mind, and elicited a desire for improvement. 
It is well known that he became even more distinguished 
for his various and extensive acquirements, than he had 
ever been for rolling stones. 

Isaac Barrow, D. D., for two or three years afier he 
commenced going to school, was distinguished only for 
quarrelling, and rude sports. This seemed to be his ruhng 
passion. His father considered his prospects for useful- 
ness or respectability so dark, that he often said, if either 
child was to die, he hoped it would be Isaac. But Isaac 
afterwards became the pride of his father's family, and an 
honor to his country. He was appointed Master of Trini- 



MINDS OF CHILDREN. 25 

ty College, at which lime the King said, ''he had given 
the office to the best scholar in England." 

The Rev. Thomas Hallyburton, formerly Professor 
of Divinity at St. Andrews, had, until he was twelve 
years old, a great aversion to learning. I might mention 
many other examples to illustrate the same truth. 

The emotions or passions of children are developed 
much sooner than their intellectual powers. They mani- 
fest desire and aversion before they exhibit a gleam of 
intellect. The developement of intellect will depend 
somewhat on the kind and strength of the passions that 
gain the ascendency. If the love of animal pleasures be- 
come very strong in early life, the intellect may be com- 
pelled to expend its energy in devising means to gratify a 
sordid appetite. 

There seem to be two classes of children, that make 
eminent scholars. The first exhibit in early childhood a 
fondness for some particular study, as Ferguson for prac- 
tical mechanics, Newton for mathematical science, or 
West for the fine arts. The second class are those who 
afford no indications of genius in childhood ; their love 
for the arts or sciences seems to be awakened by a hap- 
py train of circumstances, often at a late period in their 
lives. There are, no doubt, many minds that lie dor- 
mant, or are employed in mischief, for the want of 
proper culture, or on account of the adverse influences 
that are brought to bear upon them, when first ushered 
into the district school. 

" Full many a gem of purest ray serene 
The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear ; 
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 

The school-house is not generally the most inviting 
place that ever was to a little child. There is nothing 
about it, that is so interesting as to awaken a child's mind 
to new and nobler thoughts. It is often located in the high- 
way, and frequently on the top of a hill, exposed to the 
fierce wintry blast, or in some low, sunken spot, where, in 
wet weather, it is inaccessible except by wading. The 
3 



26 FIRST IMPRESSIONS. 

inside looks dreary to a child ; there is usually nothing to 
attract attention, but naked walls stained with smoke, un- 
comfortable, rickety benches, carved by unskilful hands, 
a three-legged table, and a broken chair. Each child, on 
going to school, goes through with a fit of homesickness, 
about as regularly as the young seaman does with a fit 
of seasickness. I have heard of a child, who endured 
it till nearly noon the first day, and absconded. He 
went home crying, and said he did not want to stay there, 
for they did not hang on any pot ; another assigned as a 
reason for not wishing to go again, that there was no 
pantry ; another child, on returning home, was asked what 
he did at school. " Nothing but sit on a bench and say A, 
B." These facts show that the first impressions made 
upon children on entering a school-house are unfavora- 
ble to their success in learning. 

It is my opinion that the fondness of children for study, 
and the rapidity of their mental acquisitions, depend, in 
part, upon the manner in which they are first instructed. 
At the age of three or four years, children are placed in 
school, and commence with learning the alphabet. They 
are usually seated on the most uncomfortable seats in the 
school-room, and required to observe perfect silence. 
This is entirely contrary to the habits and inclinations of 
children. The dulness of the scene is varied only by 
being called into the floor, two or three times each day, to 
repeat the names of the letters. Of all this they cannot 
be expected to know the use, and, if told, it is diflicult 
to make them feel that the benefit will ever compensate 
for the present inconvenience. 

It is a duty, binding ujion every school-teacher, to de- 
vise or use such a mode of teaching as shall interest lit- 
tle children. He should enter the school-room feeling 
that the future history of the children committed to his 
care, will depend very much upon the manner in which 
they are now taught. If the exercises of the school are 
so conducted that the child becomes interested, he will 
be likely to make great acquisitions in knowledge, and be 
more extensively useful. If the exercises of the school 
are dull and tedious, the child will go to school with re- 



MODES OF TEACHING THE ALPHABET. 27 

luctance, acquire a disrelish for books, grow up in com- 
parative ignorance, and be less extensively useful. 

How important then that teachers feel the necessity 
of beginning aright, and of bending the twig as it ought to 
be inclined. 

It is not uncommon for children to attend school three, 
or even six months, before they can name the letters of 
the alphabet. Little children, before they are one and 
a half years old, before they can speak five words so as 
to be understood, generally know the names of the mem- 
bers of the family, of the articles of furniture in the 
room, the names of various domestic animals, and of parts 
of the body. If a httle child, without the labor of being 
taught, learns so many names, it would seem that one four 
years old ought to be able to call the names of twenty- 
five letters in less than three months. An intelligent 
child three years old, put into a family with twenty-five 
children, will learn the names of all in one day so per- 
fectly as to retain them in memory. I will not ask 
whether little children cannot learn the names of all the 
letters in one day ; but if the requisite pains were taken 
they can learn them in one week. 

In populous villages there should be schools for the 
purpose of teaching the alphabet, and the elements of 
reading and spelling, so that the teacher of the district 
school may not be under the necessity of spending any 
time upon scholars in this department. In some cases 
parents teach their children these preliminaries, before 
they arrive at the proper age for entering the public school. 

Since our schools are not yet in all respects what they 
should be, the Common- School teacher must be pre- 
pared for the responsible business of giving the first les- 
sons to the juvenile mind. 

The following are some of the ways and means that 
have been devised for teaching the alphabet. 

Present a child with a picture of some object, having 
the name on the card in capitals. It may be the picture 
of a cat, thus : — 



28 MODES OF TEACHING THE ALPHABET. 




CAT. 

The word is shown to the child, and he is taught to 
pronounce it, and is referred to the picture for the mean- 
ing of the word. The child may then be taught the 
names of these three letters, and that these .letters per- 
form the same office as the picture ; they represent the 
animal. Three letters may be learned at one lesson. Di- 
vide the alphabet into words which are names of visible 
objects, containing three or four letters each, as follows : — 

Cat. Quail. 

Boy. Adze. 

Dog. Dove. 

Hen. Horse. 

Fly. Kite. 

Man. Pin. 

Jug. Ox. 

Any other selection of words will do as well. The 
teacher should be prepared with some . short interesting 
anecdote of a good moral tendency respecting these ob- 
jects, which will be calculated to excite an interest in tlie 
mind of the child. 

I am aware of the difficulty the teacher often finds, in 
not being able to spend much time with the small chil- 
dren ; consequently, they are left to themselves most of 
the day. They become fretful, and vent their ill-will in 
pinching or kicking their companions who may be in reach. 
To avoid this, and remove the tediousness of the time, 
and to cultivate an industrious habit, let them be permitted 
to stand at the black-board and draw the letters designated 
for the lesson, or the picture of the object, or they may 
draw them upon a slate. They may be allowed to ex- 
amine some specimens of natural history. Every teacher 



MODES OF TEACHING THE ALPHABET. 29 

must feel a sacred obligation resting upon him to endeavor 
to form the child to habits of industry, and to inspire him 
at this early period with a love of knowledge. 

Another mode of teaching the alphabet, is by picture 
lessons, or symbolical primers, having pictures whose 
names loegin with the letters to be learned. This mode 
has the advantage of interesting the child, though attended 
with one disadvantage. If a child be taught that A stands 
for Apple, B for Bell, C for Cat, &c., he is likely to 
imbibe the idea that they stand for nothing else, and that 
only one letter is required to represent an object. 

Some books for children divide the alphabet into six 
divisions, making as many lessons, having the letters in 
each irregularly arranged. Others divide the alphabet in 
a similar manner, though into smaller lessons, having some 
of the letters repeated in each succeeding lesson. The 
improvement in these books consists in preventing the chil- 
dren from learning the letters by rote — and in presenting 
to the mind small portions of the alphabet at once, instead 
of confusing the child, by attempting to grasp the whole. 

Mr. Gall, of Edinburgh, has introduced another mode 
of teaching the alphabet ; it was designed for the benefit 
of infant classes in Sabbath schools. 

Mr. Gall divided the alphabet into lessons, and classed 
together on a card the letters that have a similar appear- 
ance, thus : — 

ij If tr 

hk nu m 



o c e 



bd pq 



v X z w y 



a g 



Double letters. Terminations. 

th,sh,ch,ph ing,tion,ble,ple 



30 MODES OF TEACHING THE ALPHABET. 

In teaching from this card, it can hardly be necessan 
to state, that each division is a distinct lesson. By this 
arrangement of the letters, the teacher will see, and be 
able to point out to the child, the similarity and differences 
in their shapes. Thus, in the first lesson, the doited letter 
j differs from the i in its greater length, and curve at the 
bottom. The 1 and f are of equal length, the one has a 
square top, the other a curved one, and so on to the 
others. For the four letters, bd, pq, Mr. Gall uses lliis 
simple rhyme : — 

b right and d left looking upwards are found, 
p right and q left poiuiiug down to the ground. 

In the double letters and terminations the teacher should 
carefully give, and practise the child in, their proper 
sounds, as without it he would not be able to perceive them 
from the combination of the letters. Mr. Gall also con- 
siders it important that the child be not allowed to pass 
on to a new class of letters, until he has fully mastered 
the one before him. 

Another method is to teach the children words and 
letters at the same time. The chaplain of Sing-Sing 
Prison taught two convicts in this way to read the Bible 
in less than six weeks. 

Show the pupil the first letter in the Bible, I, and 
" then let him find the same, wherever it occurs in the 
first verse. Having done this, show him the second letter, 
n. Let him find every n in the first verse. Having 
done this, and being told what I-n spells, he has already 
learned to read the first word in the Bible. Let him then 
find the first word in the Bible, wherever it occurs in the 
first chapter. This is his first lesson. Let his second 
lesson be the second word in the Bible, the letters of 
which, and their combination, should be taught as before. 
Let him proceed in this manner through successive les- 
sons, till he has learned to read the first verse in Genesis. 
' In the beginning God created the heavens and the 
earth.''' 

Very similar to this is the Jacotot system, so called 
in honor of its author, M. Jacotot, of France. It has 



MODES OF TEACHING THE ALPHABET. 



31 



been put in practice in some places on the continent of 
Europe, and some experiments have been made in this 
country. 

I cannot better explain the system than by quoting a 
page from ' The Mother's Primer,' by Rev. T. H. 
Gallaudet. 




Jane. 
Jane. 
Frank. 



Say to the child, (point- 



Frank. 
Frank. 
Jane. 

Frank. 
Jane. 
''Directions to the Teacher. 
ing to the first picture,) What is that ? Do you know his 
name ? I wonder if he has a name. Suppose we call 
him Frank. O, there is his name right under him, (point- 
ing to the ichole word ' Frank,' but not to the letters.) 
J^othing is yet to be said about letters. Here is his name 
again, and here it is again. And here it is once more. 
What is that ? (pointing to the other picture.) Perhaps it 
is Frank's sister. What is her name ? O, here is her 
name. It is Jane. Can you show me her name again ? 
again ? once more ? Repeat till the child can tell the 
words readily." 

For further particulars 1 beg leave to refer the reader 
to the Primer itself. Mr. Gallaudet says, in the preface, 
that " he has tried it with his own children for years, and 
with great success." 

There has been published more recently, in Boston, 
' My First School-Book,' based on the same principle 



32 MODES OF TEACHING THE ALPHABET. 

as ' The Mother's Primer,' and regarded by many as an 
improvement. 

In ' My First School-Book' there are no pictures. 
They are omitted from the fact, " that many experienced 
teachers have expressed an opinion that, in books for the 
earliest instruction of children, tliey are rather a hinderance 
than a help, diverting the eye from that which should 
receive undivided attention." 

These are the various methods that have been devised 
for teaching the alphabet. The question now is, Shall 
we teach children words first, or letters ? The experiment 
is now being performed ; what the result will be 1 cannot 
say, though I am inclined to the opinion that words should 
be taught first. 



ORTHOGRAPHY. 33 



CHAPTER V. 

Orthography. — Causes of Bad Spelling, and the Rem- 
edy. — Modes of Spelling. 

" Orthography teaches the nature and powers of 
letters, and the just method of speUing words ;" or, it 
''treats of letters, syllables, words, and spelling." 

Correct spelling is only one part of orthography ; it 
seems to me particularly important to direct the attention 
of children to the whole subject, before they can be per- 
fect in this. 

The time has been, when very particular attention was 
paid to the sounds of the vowels, diphthongs, triphthongs, 
and consonants. I have heard scholars twelve years old 
analyze words of two or more syllables, selected promis- 
cuously from a reading lesson, giving to each letter its 
sound according to the common pronunciation, and cor- 
rectly fixing the accent. 

Children cannot be taught to spell accurately, unless 
the teacher understands the principal causes of bad spel- 
ling. 

I consider inattention to the letters that compose the 
word, and ignorance of the sounds of those letters, the 
two leading causes of erroneous spelling. I mention these 
two together, because they are intimately connected, and 
the remedy for each is the same. A friend of mine re- 
ceived a letter commencing thus, " My dear Cur." It 
is plain that this error in spelling arose from ignorance of 
" the nature and powers of letters." It is one of the first 
principles of orthography, that c before a, o, and u, sounds 
like k. If the writer had been taught this truth in the 
Common School, he would have known that Cur and 
S i r sound very differently. In a letter now lying upon 
my table, written by a young lady of more than ordinary 



34 BAD SPELLING. 

Opportunities for education, I find the following words, 
" conterary," " vise," " saifty," and " maney." I am 
very confident that this young lady never attended much 
to the sounds of letters, or to the composition or analysis 
of words ; if she had, she would have discovered that her 
spelling was erroneous. 

More attention should be given to the simple and com- 
bined sounds of letters. In very many schools, and I 
fear in most of them, this subject is entirely neglected. I 
have made inquiries of many young people in regard to 
this matter, and have not been so fortunate as to find one 
who ever received any such instruction. 

The same sound in our language is represented by dif- 
ferent letters ; and unless particular attention is given to 
the composition of the words, they will frequently be 
spelled wrong. E sometimes has the sound of a short «, 
as A, e r, or h u r. O has also the sound of m, as Z o v e, or 
luv. I need only refer my readers to one of Jack Douti- 
ing's Letters, to illustrate the assertion, that the correct 
sound may be represented, without using many of the let- 
ters employed by lexicographers in spelling the words. 

Our spelling-books ought to give more prominence to 
this subject ; they ought to arrange the sounds of the vow- 
els and consonants in tables printed in as large type as the 
spelling-lessons, and illustrated by plain examples. There 
are some spelling-books in which the different sounds of 
the letters are not even mentioned ; in some the informa- 
tion is huddled into the preface, that part of the book 
which is seldom read by the teachers or scholars. I know 
of no book in which it holds that prominent place that it 
must, before it will receive the attention its importance 
demands. 

- Some may be ready to say that this subject is too re- 
fined and intricate to be taught in Common Schools with 
any success. It is of no use to dispute with an objector. 
The question can be brought to the test of experiment. 
I was taught the sounds of letters in the Common School, 
and understood them. I have taught the same to many 
children, and I believe they understood the subject, and 
were deeply interested in the study. 



BAD SPELLING. 35 

Another cause of wrong spelling is^ ignorance of the 
meaning of words. A member of an academy recently 
used in his composition the word fourfathers ; his teacher 
told him he probably meant his father, grandfather, great- 
grandfather, and great-great-grandfather. Another stu- 
dent, having occasion to speak oi wry faces ^ wrote it rye- 
faces. Errors in spelHng arising from this cause can be 
remedied by teaching children more perfectly the defini- 
tions of words, of which I shall speak in another chapter. 

Jl third class of errors in spelling seems to proceed from 
the want of a well-educated eye. There are individuals 
who spell well orally, but if they are required to write 
those words they are very sure to spell them wrong. They 
will use wrong letters, omit or misplace some of them, so 
that the reader is often puzzled to decipher the meaning. 
Such persons seem unable to perform the mental act of 
spelling and the muscular operation of writing at the same 
time. The mind is so much occupied with the latter 
exercise, that it neglects the former. Bad spelling ari- 
sing from this cause, is prevalent among those who seldom 
write. This evil may be remedied by requiring the pu- 
pils to write the words pronounced by the teacher upon a 
slate instead of spelling them orally. Let each member 
of the class write the same word ; after as many words 
have been written as were intended to be spelled at that 
time, let the teacher take the slate of the one at the head 
of the class, and he that of the one next below him, and 
so on, and then let each scholar correct any error he may 
find on the slate he holds in his hand. In this way the 
eye may be educated to detect an error as readily as the 
ear. 

A fourth class of errors in spelling proceeds from the 
want of a well-educated ear. A young lady says, "I 
should of written." She uses of instead o^ have., partly 
because her ear does not distinguish sounds accurately. 
This source of error will be avoided by requiring children 
to write the words they hear pronounced, and by instruct- 
ing them better in the sounds of letters. 

The last class of errors in speUing that I shall mention 
proceeds from ignorance of a few simple rules. Many 



36 MODF.S OF SPET.T.ING. 

write comeing, lovcing, occ. They would not thus err 
if they had been taught that "the final c of a primitive 
word is generally omitted before an additional termination 
beginning with a vowel." 

Some write lodgment, and thereby violate the rule 
which requires that "the final e of a primitive word should 
be retained if the additional termination begins with a con- 
sonant." 

Some scholars spell s k i 11 f u 1, and thereby violate 
the rule which requires that primitive words ending in II 
should drop one / before the sufiix less, Jul, &c. This 
class of errors cannot be remedied unless the pupil be 
taught the rules of spelling. It is strange that the au- 
thors of spelling-books should so universally omit all these 
rules. 

The common mode of spelling is to put out words to a 
class, and, when one fails, to let the next try, and the 
next, and so on, until some one spells the word correctly, 
w'ho takes the place of the one who commenced it, as a 
reward for his superior skill. The object of this is to 
stimulate to greater exertion, and this effect it produces 
to a certain extent ; it often happens, however, that two 
or three scholars in a class are superior to the others, 
and will keep at the head constantly. Hence an oppor- 
tunity seldom occurs for the poorer scholar to rise ; con- 
sequently, despairing of success, he ceases to exert him- 
self. Thus the whole benefit of the system falls upon a 
few, and, unless it can be made to affect every individual 
in the class, the system ought to be abolished. It fur- 
thermore seems evident, that it is a bad principle to stim- 
ulate a scholar to prepare a spelling exercise for the pur- 
pose of excelling his classmates. It is a good thing to 
excel, but to attempt to stimulate a child to exertion by 
such a motive is extremely dangerous. I believe that a 
child may be interested so much in a spelling exercise, 
that he will exert himself to do well. But if this cannot 
be done, I have found, by long experience, that to make a 
scholar ashamed of himself for not doing what he can, is 
attended with better effect than to make him proud of 
himself for doing well. 



MODES OF SPELLING. 37 

The common mode of spelling is therefore character- 
ized by two prominent faults ; it discourages the poorer 
scholars in the class, and brings into exercise a spirit of 
emulation and strife, which, however harmless it may be in 
childhood, has no doubt an unhappy influence upon the 
future character. It is the spirit which among political 
men is called party spirit, and among religious men sec- 
tarian zeal. 

It is not well to pursue constantly one, two, or three 
modes of spelling. Children are pleased with variety, 
and what interests them one week may not the next. 

The following mode, from the Annals of Education, 
must necessarily command very close attention. 

*' Suppose the class consist of six scholars. I assign 
them a definite number of words, either in a dictionary 
or defining spelling-book. These they study, not only 
as to their orthography, but their signification. The class 
being arranged, either in a semicircle, or upon three sides 
of a hollow square, I put the first word. Suppose it 
Capital, and let the class be designated as A, B, C, D, 
E, F. The class proceeds ; — A says c, — B, a, — C, 
p, — D pronounces cap — E, i, — F pronounces capi — A, 
/, — B, a, — C, Z, — D pronounces tal — E pronounces 
Capital. — F defines ; ' The chief city, or town, in a state 
or kingdom.^ A repeats a sentence embracing it ; ' Bos- 
ton is the CAPITAL of Massachusetts.'^ 

'' The first word being thus disposed of, I put the sec- 
ond, which is commenced by B, and disposed of in the 
same way ; and thus through the lesson. If E gives the 
wrong letter, or F does not pronounce correctly, the class 
raise their hands, — the next makes the correction, and 
proceeds. If F has not a definition, or A a sentence, 
the next takes it, and the business goes on without inter- 
ruption. A class, when accustomed to spell in this man- 
ner, will proceed with astonishing rapidity." 

Children are sometimes very much interested with the 
following method. The teacher puts out a sentence, 
thus : — 

" The world lay hushed in slumber deep." 

The first spells the, the second world, the third lay, and 
4 



38 MODES OF SPELLING. 

SO on, until each word is spelled, then the next pupil in 
order repeats the sentence. This secures the constant 
and fixed attention of each scholar. 

Another mode of spelling is to allow the whole class 
to spell together ; they are required to sound each letter 
and pronounce each syllable as one ; the principal advan- 
tage of this method is to habituate scholars to a distinct- 
ness of articulation, and to arouse them from a lifeless and 
dull manner of speaking. It would not be beneficial to 
spell in this manner constantly, only when circumstances 
seem to require. 

The practice of choosing sides, which was common in 
former times, had a very good effect in exciting ambition, 
and in securing a careful study of the spelling-lessons, but 
there is reason to believe that its moral tendency was not 
very good ; it is probable that it fell into disuse on this 
account. 



THE MEANING OF WORDS. 39 



CHAPTER VI. 

Importance of understanding the Meaning of Words. — 
Mode of teaching Definitions. 

The importance of having an accurate and critical 
knowledge of the meaning of words cannot be too deeply 
felt. Without such a knowledge a scholar cannot under- 
stand what he reads, nor what he hears spoken. 

It is necessary that one who reads should understand 
the meaning of every word in the paragraph, or he will 
not get its true sense. If, in reading Latin, Greek, or 
French, I find one word whose definition is unknown, I 
am in doubt about the whole sentence, and not unfre- 
quently it throws a doubt over the precise object of the 
whole essay. Deaf persons are very much perplexed 
and embarrassed, if they lose one word ; for they do not 
know but it was the most important word in the sentence. 

There are in the best dictionaries of the English lan- 
guage about seventy thousand words, each of which, on an 
average, has at least two different meanings. It is a labor 
of no small magnitude, to know perfectly the meaning of 
a sufficient number of words to be able to read understand- 
ingly all the books that come from the press, in our own lan- 
guage. It is very common for the best scholars in the 
district school, after having entered a higher seminary, to 
get erroneous opinions from the books they read, or per- 
haps no idea at all, because they are unable to define all 
the words in the lesson. 

The knowledge of people in this country is to be ob- 
tained chiefly by reading. The time has been when stu- 
dents travelled in pursuit of learning. The young Athe- 
nians, after attending the schools in their own city, and 
having learned what was known by the poets and philos- 
ophers at home, went to Alexandria, Jerusalem, and 



40 MODE OF TEACHING DEFINITIONS. 

Bagdad, to converse with all the learned men they could 
find ; they then returned home laden with all the stores 
of knowledge that could then be found. American youth 
are too poor to afford time or money to visit every 
country to learn the extent of human wisdom. All this 
can be more economically accomplished by reading. 

It is said that young people are fond of novels ; that 
they read them to the neglect of books which contain solid 
and substantial information. I suppose there is a plain 
reason, why they prefer books of fiction to history or 
philosophy. It is usual for writers of fiction not only to 
choose a subject that lies within the comprehension of the 
young, but also to use words, for the most part, with which 
they are familiar. By this method, they secure many 
readers. History, and popular treatises on philosophy, 
chemistry, and other sciences, contain more words that 
are classical or technical, and consequently not so well 
understood. It is natural that young persons should pre- 
fer to read those books, which they can most easily com- 
prehend. I do not suppose this to be the only reason 
why they are fond of fiction, but I have no doubt that, if 
more pains were taken to instruct them in the meaning of 
words, there would be more readers of books of science, 
and of general knowledge. I have heard an intelligent 
man, who graduated twenty-five years ago, assign as a rea- 
son for not subscribing for a scientific journal, that he 
could not understand it. It contained words and phrases 
of which he knew not the meaning. 

It is my opinion, that if more attention was paid by 
teachers to defining words, it would produce a happy 
effect upon the taste, intelligence, and mental elevation of 
the rising generation. 

What then is the best method of teaching children the 
definitions of words ? It seems to have been and still is 
the impression, that definitions are learned chiefly from 
dictionaries ; this is the reason why so many have been 
prepared and published " for the use of schools." It is 
false in theory to suppose that a child can learn the true 
significatk)n of words from a school dictionary. A word 
is an articulate sound, it is mere breath, designed to 



MODE OF TEACHING DEFINITIONS. 41 

represent or suggest to the mind an object, or an idea. 
A child understands fully the meaning of the word by a 
real perception of the object, or by such helps as shall 
approach nearest to perception. School dictionaries 
only give one word as a definition of another. Children 
are supposed to be ignorant of the meaning of words ; if, 
therefore, we do nothing more than present another word, 
which we suppose to be synonymous, we embarrass the 
child, and increase his difficulty. The child wishes to 
know the meaning of the word prophet ; his dictionary says 
it means seer ; he then looks for seer, and is informed 
that it means prophet ; he runs round the circle, and ar- 
rives at the point from which he started, and finds no 
light. 

It is related of a young lady, who said that she had 
studied the dictionary *' considerable," that, on being 
asked the meaning oi loedlock^ she replied, " It is a thing 
to fasten barn-doors with." 

It is plain that a child cannot learn the signification of 
one word by another, even if they are exactly synony- 
mous. 

The difficulty is still further increased by the fact, that 
very few words in our language have synonymes so per- 
fect, that one word can be used for the other without in- 
juring the sense. The school dictionary says that agi- 
tate means to shake ; substitute shake for agitate in the 
following sentence, " They began to agitate the question;" 
any child will perceive that the words do not mean the 
same thing. We learn from the dictionary that hew means 
to cut J but every one knows that to cut timber and to hew 
it are two very different operations. The definition given 
in the dictionary to many words is entirely useless ; a 
particular word is often defined by one more general, as, 
'* aunt" is " a relation ;" the same may be said of uncle, 
cousin, or nephew. " Plane" is " a tool ;" the same may 
be said of a rake, a chisel, or a hoe. 

Within a few months a spelling-book* has been pub- 
lished which is highly commended, and which many of 
its friends confidently assert must in a short time supplant 
* Town's. 
4* 



42 MODE OF TEACHING DEFINITIONS. 

every other. It professes to be superior to other books 
in its method of teaching children llie meaning of words. 
The following extract from the preface shows the author's 
design : — 

'' Now, as the principle of association is known to ex- 
ert so great an influence over the powers of recollection, 
it is believed, if words and their ideas could be associa- 
ted, and learned together, during the whole period of 
spelling, that neither of the parts would be irksome to the 
scholar, and that both might become equally familiar, du- 
ring the very period spent in acquiring either of them sep- 
arately. 

" In this work, the author believes he has marked out 
a plan well adapted to secure both objects, and it is not 
yet seen why both may not be perfected at one and the 
same time. 

" In spelling, each word has its synonyme, or word of 
the nearest corresponding import, one or the other of 
^yhich will in most cases be known, and by alternate repe- 
tition, the meaning of both words, to say the least, will be 
as likely to be remembered as the spelling." 
The columns are arranged thus : — 

dust dirt 

droll wag 

flesh meat 

flour meal 

flaw crack 

Let it be admitted that children who use this book will 
retain in their memories the synonymous word by which 
any given word is defined ; suppose that when they see 
the word " flour" they immediately recollect that it means 
meal, or that when they see the word meal that it means 
flour, does it follow that they understand the meaning of 
the word ? I think not, for meal is not flour. A 
child would be regarded as a dunce, who should call 
corn-meal, flour. '' Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou 
return ;" would it do as well to say, " Dirt thou art, 
&c. ?" '' All flesh is grass;" will it do to say, '' All 
meat is grass ?" 



MODE OF TEACHING DEFINITIONS. 43 

This book teaches that 

money means penny 

party ' ' faction 

offence '' scandal 

calcine " pulverize. 

I should be sorry to have a child believe that one of 
these words can be substituted for the other without 
changing the sense. 

In many instances the author, being unable to find a 
synonymous word, has selected a phrase and inserted it in 
the spelling columns, and divided it into syllables as if it 
were a single word, thus : — 

con-se-quence what-fol-lows 

co-los-sus huge-stat-ue 

for-mu-la giv-en-form 

flex-i-ble may-be-bent 

fun-gus proud-flesh 

grav-el coarse-sand. 

I consider it impossible to teach a child, who knows 
the signification of very few words, the definition of an 
increased number by synonymous words. If a dictionary 
is to be made for children, the definitions should be full 
and logical descriptions of the thing or of the idea the word 
represents ; if only a synonyme is given, it may increase 
the child's difficulty, by presenting to his mind another 
word equally unknown. It does not define a robin to 
say it is a bird ; there should be added some particulars 
by which this bird may be distinguished from all others. 

It is a very great mistake in lexicographers to suppose 
that dictionaries for the use of learned men, should have 
fuller and more complete definitions than those designed 
for children who are acquiring the first rudiments of knowl- 
edge. If either can dispense with a full definition, it is 
the adult, and not the child. 

The best method of learning definitions is from an ac- 
tual examination of things. We read of London and Pe- 
kin, but have very erroneous views respecting those cities. 
We probably should learn more by an actual view of 
either, from some eminence, for one hour, than would be 
derived from the most elaborate description. A child is 



44 MODE OP TEACHING DEFINITIONS. 

never in doubt in regard to the meaning of such words as 
chair, pen, knife, table, house, &c., though he may never 
have had the words defined. Definitions are best taught b} 
presenting the objects themselves. Let a teacher pre- 
sent to scholars as many things as he can which are un- 
known, and would be useful to be known. Names o) 
figures, as squares, circles, &c., are best learned by teach- 
ing children to draw them upon the slate or black-board. 

It is impossible to present to any organ of sense the 
precise things represented by abstract terms. The knowl- 
edge of such terms belongs to the second stage of a 
child's education, when he is able to comprehend the 
meaning of simple stories, or verbal descriptions of things. 
If /ear is the word to be defined, I would ask the child 
if he has any different feelings when alone in the dark, 
from those which he experiences when in tlie light ; or if 
he has any peculiar feelings while standing on a high place. 
I would thus recall to his mind the emotion of /ea?-, if 
he has ever experienced it, which is the best definition 
that can be given. 

Another method sometimes adopted by teachers is to 
give out daily two or three words, and require each scholar 
to write as many sentences, each of which shall contain 
one or more of those words. 



MECHANICAL READING. 45 



CHAPTER VII. 

Reading — Mechanical, Intellectual, and Rhetorical. 

Correct reading is the first step towards the acquisi- 
tion of useful knowledge. Orthography and the defini- 
tion of words must precede reading, but all other studies 
follow after ; and the success of the scholar in the pursuit 
of learning will depend very much on the degree of per- 
fection to which he may have attained in this art. 

In teaching children to read well, there are three dis- 
tinct, and very different objects of attention. Reading 
may be taught as a mechanical, as an intellectual, or as 
a rhetorical exercise. 

The mechanical part of reading consists in the modula- 
tion of the voice as to loudness, distinctness of articula- 
tion, and slowness, and in regard to propriety of pronun- 
ciation, emphasis, tones, and pauses. No one can read 
to the edification of others without a careful attention to 
all these particulars. This part of reading is learned 
more by imitating good readers, than by the study of 
rules. Only here and there one would ever learn to sing, 
if all their knowledge of the subject were gathered from 
books. The Common- School teacher must pursue a 
course similar to that practised by the teacher of music ; 
he must read, and require the pupil to imitate his tones, 
emphasis, cadence, &c. Unless such an example be 
daily held up before the children, it cannot reasonably 
be expected that they will read mechanically well. 

Those teachers, who hear a class read three or four 
times in a day, and direct one or another to read faster 
or slower, or to regard their pauses, but set before them 
no example for their imitation, do not teach with any 
effect. It would be as well to omit reading entirely, for 
they would be sure to acquire no bad habits. 



46 INTELLECTUAL READING. 

Some teachers do not even correct their pupils whdi 
they read wrong, or, if they do, it is a correction without 
explanation ; their attention, while the class read, is sonic- 
times almost entirely occupied with doing a sum, mend- 
ing a pen, or setting a copy. 

In teaching the mechanical part of reading, it is well for 
the teacher occasionally to select short sentences, by which 
some rule may be illustrated, and read them as they should 
be read, and require each member of the class to do the 
same. If it be desired to illustrate the nature and power of 
emphasis, he may repeat a sentence like this : " Shall \\r 
get a lesson in geography to-day ?" Let each scholar re- 
peat it with the emphasis on we^ and then with the em- 
phasis on geography^ and then on to-day ; and let the 
teacher show them that a change in the emphasis would 
call forth a diflerent answer. In a similar manner ca- 
dence may be illustrated. The following sentence may 
be used : " Hear instruction, be wise, and refuse it not ;" 
and the pupils may be required to read it, making a full 
cadence of the voice at instruction and icise^ and tli< n 
without. By some such process all the rules that belong 
to mechanical reading may be clearly explained. 

The intellectual part of reading is the most important, 
and the most difficult. It consists in teaching children 
to understand what they read. This is too much neglect- 
ed ; many children grow up without knowing that sen- 
tences, sections, chapters, and even books are a kind of 
pictorial representation of the writer's thoughts. A thing 
may be described by a picture or by words. The great 
object of teaching children to read is, that they may un- 
derstand the picture, and derive information from the 
perusal of it. Children and youth often read as though 
they were performing a mere mechanical exercise, and 
as if a good reader was to be known by the marks of a 
good skater — by his velocity, and the variety of his evolu- 
tions. Let them understand that the object of reading is 
very different from the object aimed at in jumping a rope ; 
that it is not for exercise, but to cull and to collect the 
writer's thoughts, and to preserve them for future use. In 
order to do this, children should be required to give the 



INTELLECTUAL READING. 47 

sense of what they read. This must be done in child- 
hood, or, when they become aduhs, they will read with- 
out much benefit. 

Teachers should question their pupils, with more or 
less particularity, according to time and circumstances, in 
regard to what they have read, and in regard to the truth 
of any sentiments advanced in the lesson. They may 
also be questioned about the meaning of words, their com- 
position and derivation, about the name of the writer, 
and respecting any thing else suggested by the lesson, that 
is connected with the enlightening of the child's mind. 

The importance of intellectual reading to the children 
of the United States appears from the fact, that the gov- 
ernment here is in the hands of the people. Unless those 
who have^the right of suffrage have also intelligence, they 
will be very likely to abuse that right, 

I have no doubt there would be more harmony on mor- 
al, religious, and political subjects, if the number of intel- 
ligent readers of books were increased. There are in this 
land of liberty, where every one has the privilege of read- 
ing and thinking for himself, very many, who depend on 
others to think for them. Their opinions on all subjects 
are derived from some influential leader, whom they re- 
gard as an oracle of wisdom. This is a kind of liberty 
that ought not to be tolerated in this country ; the liberty 
of receiving our opinions from others, without venturing 
to read and think for ourselves, is reducing the mind to a 
state of slavery. This will, to some extent, be the con- 
dition of every one, who is not in childhood and youth 
taught to read understandingly. 

Said an eminent teacher in days of yore, " Were 
youth, while under the superintendence of parents, taught 
to think instead of chatter, the world would not be troub- 
led with so many absurd and erroneous opinions, or such 
conceited matters." 

It is true that all think in a certain sense ; but that con- 
stant stream of thought that runs through the mind with- 
out any consciousness of effort, as when, 

in friendly chat, 



We talk of this and then of that, 



48 RHETORICAL READING. 

is not the kind of thinking whose fruit is sound practical 
wisdom. Prone to mental as well as corporeal indolence, 
very many believe whatever they hear, rather than spend 
their strength in searching out " what is truth." 

" To follow foolish precedents, and wink 
With both our eyes, is easier than to think." 

Unless the young are taught to examine subjects for 
themselves, by careful and laborious thought, they will 
not be likely to adopt correct principles for the regulation 
of their future conduct. They will be turned from an 
upright and honorable course by every alluring phantom, 
and whirled about, like a weathercock, by the breath pro- 
ceeding from every mouth. Those who depend on oth- 
ers to think for them, are mere passive receivers of their 
opinions. They act just as they are acted upon, and 
become mere tools, to be handled by a few thinking and 
designing ones, who are ambitious to form a party and be 
dignified with the name of leaders. 

The rhetorical part of reading consists chiefly in en- 
tering into the spirit of the author, so as to imbibe his tem- 
per and feelings. A scholar may read correctly and in- 
telligently, but without any rhetorical effect. Perhaps it 
is not possible for every scholar to attain a high degree of 
excellence in this department. There are but few good 
orators, and but few good musicians ; for a similar reason 
there are but few good rhetorical readers. It is only 
here'and there one, of all those who can read, that do read 
with force, variety, and, if necessary, with deep emotion. 

Though rhetorical excellence is not expected in all 
readers, yet something can be done by a teacher to im- 
prove the style of a child's reading ; he can break up 
that peculiar tone that is neither reading nor singing, but a 
burlesque upon both ; he can do something towards mel- 
lowing the voice that now " grates harsh thunder." It 
is a subject that is "worthy of attention. If, however, the 
teacher himself has no skill or taste for such reading, I 
should not advise him to attempt to teach what he cannot 
practically illustrate. 

The exercise of reading will be rendered more inter- 



RHETORICAL READING. 49 

esting, if each child in the class is occasionally allowed 
to select his reading lesson from any book he pleases, 
instead of reading the set lesson. Let this privilege be 
granted to those who are diligent, obedient, and faithful, 
and let it be denied to others. In this way it will oper- 
ate as a stimulus to good conduct. This mode of read- 
ing unfolds to the teacher something of the character of 
the child's mind, and affords a better opportunity to ben- 
efit the child. 

It will be found beneficial to appoint a few scholars 
to read to the school, once a week, pieces of their own 
selection. Let the appointment be made a week previ- 
ous, giving sufficient opportunity to prepare for the exer- 
cise. Then let the teacher criticise the readers as to 
their manner of reading, and as to their taste in selecting 
pieces. 

There is another important matter connected with this 
subject, which must not be omitted. It is the cultivation 
of a taste for reading in children. If they can read, but 
will not, they might as well have never learned. The 
teacher should take some pains to cultivate among his pupils 
a fondness for reading. This is generally a consequence 
of teaching scholars to read understandingly. If they get 
information from the perusal of books they will generally 
be fond of reading, but not always. There must be an 
acquired love of knowledge ^ the innate love of it, that 
exists to some extent in all, is not sufficient ; it needs 
guiding and controlling. 

A library in a district school is of great utility, for it 
enables the teacher, if he inspires his pupils with a love 
of knowledge, to gratify that desire to some extent, by 
furnishing them with books to read. 

The legislative provision, that gives to districts the 
right of taxing themselves with a small sum for the pur- 
chase of a library, is, I think, judicious, and will no doubt 
be of great advantage to the youth in this Commonwealth. 
I am happy to be able to add, that a Library of interest- 
ing books for District Schools is now preparing, under 
the supervision of the Board of Education. 
5 



50 PENMANSHIP. ANECDOTES. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Penmanship. — Anecdotes, 

Penmanship is an important part of a Common-School 
education ; and though teachers traverse the country in- 
structing the young in this art, still it is necessary that the 
teacher of the district school should give to it particular 
attention. Since writing-schools have become so abun- 
dant, penmanship has been neglected in the public schools. 
This is an evil, for it is not probable that half the chil- 
dren ever receive any instruction in this art from a writing- 
master. If, then, it is neglected in the Common School, 
one half of the children will be less skilful in this art than 
they otherwise would have been. 

It is my opinion that the instructions of writing-masters, 
by affording superior facilities to a few, have been the 
occasion of its being neglected by school-teachers ; and 
consequently many of those children, who cannot afford the 
time or expense of hiring the services of a master, are 
poorly qualified for business. 

This evil will be remedied at once, if the teachers 
of our schools will remember that the services of the 
writing-master, who teaches only private schools, for the 
benefit of those who can pay, do not supersede the ne- 
cessity of teaching penmanship in the Common School. 

The consequences of poor writing are sometimes se- 
rious, and at others ludicrous. An indictment was found, 
a few months since, by a grand jury in Kentucky, against 
a man for a criminal offence. It was quashed by the court, 
on the plea, by the defendant's counsel, that the scrawl 
which the foreman intended for his signature was not his 
name, and bore no resemblance to it. 

I have seen a letter written to a la\^ye^ which it was 
utterly impossible to decipher ; he could not determine 



PENMANSHIP. ANECDOTES. 51 

the place where it was written, the subject, nor the name 
of the writer. The letter, of course, remains unanswered 
to this day. 

An English gentleman applied to the East India 
Company for an office for a friend of his in India, and 
succeeded in obtaining an appointment. His friend, after 
a while, wrote him a letter of thanks, and signified his in- 
tention to send him an equiv alent. The Enghshman could 
make nothing of the word but elephant ; and being pleased 
with the idea of receiving such a noble animal, he was 
at the expense of erecting a suitable building for his ac- 
commodation. In a few weeks the equivalent came, 
which was nothing more nor less than a pot of sweet- 
meats. 

A clergyman in Massachusetts, more than a century 
ago, addressed a letter to the General Court on some 
subject of interest that was under discussion. The clerk 
read the letter, in which there was this remarkable sen- 
tence : "I address you not as magistrates, but as Indian 
devils.''^ The clerk hesitated, and looked carefully, and 
said, "Yes, he addresses you as Indian devils.^'' The 
wrath of the honorable body was aroused, they passed a 
vote of censure, and WTOte to the reverend gentleman for 
an explanation ; from which it appeared, that he did not 
address them as magistrates, but as individuals. 

A certain part of the day should be devoted to wri- 
ting ; the school-teacher must assign to it a part of his 
time, as faithfully as he does to reading or spelling. Gen- 
erally the latter part of the forenoon is the best time for 
writing. In the morning the house is often cold, or the 
ink frozen ; and in the afternoon, especially if there is snow 
upon the ground, the children's hands tremble. Copies 
and pens should be in readiness ; and when the hour for 
this exercise arrives, let each scholar be ready to begin. 

We can hardly appreciate the value of this art. How 
pleasant to be able to communicate our thoughts to absent 
friends ! how useful to be able to record the results of 
business ! how wonderful to be able to put our thoughts on 
paper, that they may be communicated to minds in other 
lands and in other ages ! A missionary in India, at 



52 PENMANSHIP. ANECDOTES. 

work upon a chapel, went from home without his square. 
He wrote with a coal upon a chip what he wanted, and 
handed it to a native to carry to his wife. " Take that," 
said he, *' to my wife." " She will call me a fool if I 
carry a chip to her." Perceiving him in earnest, the man 
asked, " What shall I tell the woman ?" '' The chip will 
tell," said the missionary. He carried it to the house and 
gave it to the woman ; she looked at it, threw it away, and 
brought him the square. The native inquired how she 
knew what he wanted. "Did you not give me a chip ?" 
"Yes," he replied, "but I did not hear it speak." 
"Well," said the woman, "it made known what you 
wanted." The native went and picked up the chip, and 
ran about with it among his acquaintance, saying, " These 
English can make chips talk." He was so astonished 
that he tied a string to it and wore it about his neck for 
several days. Similar facts are mentioned respecting 
the astonishment of the natives of the Tonga and of the 
Sandwich Islands, when they discovered that thoughts 
could be put upon paper with a pen. 



GEOGRAPHY. 53 



CHAPTER IX. 

Geography. — Diversities of Opinion respecting Introduc- 
tory Lessons. — Mode of Teaching. 

Burke once remarked, that " though Geography is an 
earthly subject, yet it is a heavenly study." And said the 
Roman orator, before the construction of maps was 
known, " One may survey the whole earth, and all the 
seas which surround it, in the mind, just as if they were 
presented to the eyes." 

The object of studying geography is to acquire such a 
knowledge of the topography of countries, and the rela- 
tive situation of places, that we may know where a town or 
city is situated whenever it is brought to mind in reading 
history or a newspaper, or in conversation. He who is 
obliged continually to refer to a map or gazetteer for a 
knowledge of important places, is deficient in a knowledge 
of geography. 

There is some diversity of opinion among teachers, in 
regard to the introductory lessons to geography. 

The oldest school geographies begin with a short 
system of astronomy, informing the scholar respecting the 
universe, and the place in it which the earth occupies. 
From this they descend to the principles of celestial and 
terrestrial latitude and longitude, and afterwards proceed 
to describe the earth. 

There are other books which begin with a general view 
of the earth's surface ; its division into land and water, 
continents and oceans ; and after taking a very brief view 
of the physical divisions, they proceed to take a compre- 
hensive view of the civil divisions of the globe, and then 
enter into minute details respecting each country. 

There is another class of geographies that begin wuth 

the boundary of the pupil's own town, with its rivers, 

5* 



54 GEOGRAPHY. 

mountains, soil, climate, &c., and then proceed to a de- 
scription of the county, state, province, or kingdom. 

I prefer the second class of geographies, which omit 
astronomy entirely, or assign it a place in the appendix, 
and commence with a general view of the world, and then 
give an account of each state, or province. 

The description of each country embraces four general 
topics ; physical, civil, statistical, and mathematical geog- 
raphy. Under the first we find an account of the moun- 
tains, rivers, soil, climate, minerals, &:c.; under the sec- 
ond, government, religion, education, history, &c.; un- 
der the third, population, exports, imports, wealth, &c.; 
and under the last we have a description of latitude, 
longitude, heights of mountains, dimensions of seas, and 
all those matters that are dependant on mathematical 
calculations. 

Though these are distinct topics, yet they are not gen- 
erally considered separately. Whether they be separa- 
ted in the text-book or not, the teacher ought not to require 
the tyro in geography to grasp the whole at once. His 
attention should be confined to the physical and civil 
divisions, until he has become very familiar with them. 

This is the arrangement contemplated by our most 
popular school geographies. 

Most of the text-books now used make this study too 
easy. It seems as if the authors of them did not intend 
to exercise any faculty of the child's mind save the mem- 
ory. The object of teaching a child is not merely to 
impart knowledge ; education does not consist in distend- 
ing and cramming the memory ; but in developing every 
faculty, and especially reason, whose "comparing balance" 
is designed by the Creator to hold the most prominent 
place. Geographies have become scarcely any thing but 
a volume of questions, to be asked by the teacher and 
answered by the scholar. When these can be answered 
fluently, the study of geography is finished. In order to 
enable the scholar to skim over the earth's surface with 
great rapidity without perplexing the teacher, the initials 
of the answer to each question are given. If the plan 
of such a book is undeviatingly followed, the memory of 



MODE OF TEACHING. 55 

the child is exercised, but reason, the noblest faculty of 
the soul, remains untouched. 

A teacher may, however, use a volume of questions so 
as to exercise the reason and imagination of the scholar ; 
but the young teacher is not very likely to do so, unless 
he has had previous instruction. 

If it be asked how reason and judgement can be exer- 
cised and improved in the study of geography, I reply. 
Suppose the questions are, 

How is Maine bounded ? How is New Hampshire 
bounded ? and the other New England States ? Let the 
scholar, as the lawyers say, be cross-questioned. What 
is east of Vermont ? What is east of New Hampshire ? 
What is east of Maine ? What is west of Rhode Island ? 
What is east of Connecticut ? Or let the scholar be 
questioned in this manner. What is west of that New 
England State that has no sea-coast ? What is south of 
that New England State that has the least extent of sea- 
coast ? Or I will ask what States in New England are 
longest north and south ? What east and west ? 

By asking questions different from those used in the 
book, the scholar may be assisted in painting a map of a 
country upon his own mind. If he be asked the ques- 
tions in the order of the book, and if the subject be 
dropped there, his thoughts and associations will extend 
only to the page of the book or atlas. By cross-ques- 
tioning you will oblige the pupil to form a conception in 
his own mind of the relative situation of places, and of 
their general appearance. 

There is another method of teaching geography to the 
elder scholars in a Common School, which interests them 
much, and renders the study very profitable. A large 
outline map, drawn upon cloth, is used, or, for want of 
maps, the outlines may be drawn upon the black-board. 
The class is seated in front of the map ; one of their 
number is designated to stand by it, and mention the 
boundaries of a country, and with a rod to point to the 
rivers, mountains, and the place of the large towns, caUing 
each by its name, and, in short, to tell all he knows respect- 
ing the geography of some State. If any member of the class 



56 GEOGRAPHY. 

can add any thing, or would correct any thing, he signifies 
it by raising the hand, and permission is granted. This 
is a very intellectual method of studying geography. If 
the teacher has any zeal, some of the class, if not all, will 
be inspired with a laudable ambition to know much 
respecting the lesson, and to acquire accurate information. 

It is beneficial to recommend to children, while study- 
ing geography, to read other authors, if they have them, 
or the accounts of travellers through the countries under 
consideration. A teacher makes tlie following remarks in 
reference to the opportunity the study of geography 
affords for bringing before the minds of children much 
information of a miscellaneous character. Suppose the 
lesson be Arabia ; after finishing the recitation, ''the si- 
moom, or pestilential wind of the desert, is mentioned ; 
its causes and effects are investigated ; and the manner in 
which wind is affected, by the countries over which it 
passes, is explained. 

" The phenomenon called the mirage, an optical illu- 
sion occasioned by the variation of the refractive power 
of the atmosphere, should be described and accounted 
for. 

" Under the head of natural history, the camel claims 
particular attention. Let the several species, lama, 
giraffe, &c. be mentioned ; and let the peculiar conforma- 
tion of the foot, and internal structure, which are so ad- 
mirably adapted for traversing the sandy deserts of Arabia, 
be described. Its form, habits, uses, the position in which 
it receives its load, and the effect produced by a change 
of climate, should be noticed ; and any anecdotes re- 
specting it may be related by the pupils or the instructer. 

" Among the vegetable productions of Arabia, coffee 
holds a conspicuous place. The shrub from which it is 
obtained may be described, as well as the manner of 
preparing the berries for use. The acacia, from which 
gum-arabic exudes, should not be omitted. 

" In considering the civil and political geography of 
the Arabs, let information be given respecting their food, 
dress, habits, government, and division into tribes. Let 
the present state of literature among them, be compared 



MODE OF TEACHING. 57 

with its advancement during the middle ages. In refer- 
ring to the religion of Arabia, its author, Mohammed, 
will naturally become an object of interest. Let a brief 
sketch of his hfe be given, and his distinguishing charac- 
teristics be noticed, together with those qualities which 
enabled him to acquire and maintain so great an influence 
over his countrymen, and those extraneous circumstances 
which facilitated the propagation of his rehgion. Some 
of the tenets which he inculcated may be mentioned, and 
the points of resemblance between Islamism and our own 
creed, noticed." 

It will not be worth the while to broach these subjects 
until the class has become famihar with the physical ge- 
ography of the world. 



58 ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 



CHAPTER X. 

Errors respecting English Grammar. — Can Children 
study it ? — Mode of Teaching it. 

English Grammar is generally defined to be ^' the art 
of speaking and writing the English language correctly."" 
This, I think, is only a partial view of the subject. 
Many persons get an idea that English grammar has no 
practical value except to those who intend to be authors, 
public speakers, or teacher^. Hence those who study 
it, having neither of these ends in view, feel as if they 
were performing a useless task, from which they would 
be glad to be relieved. 

There is another benefit arising from the study of 
grammar, more important tlian either of those mentioned, 
which is, the assistance it afibrds in the interpretation of 
language. 

Solomon says, " Wisdom is the principal thing, there- 
fore get wisdom." The principles of grammar teach me 
that these two clauses have a particular connexion ; the 
first part points out the reason why we should get wisdom. 

" By the grace of God I am what I am." The prin- 
ciples of grammar teach me that by connects grace with 
the last word : I am what I am by the grace of God. 
" To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your 
hearts." Grammar teaches, that to-day modifies harden, 
and the sentence following is a condition coming after 
harden in the order of sense ; the sentence then means, 
Harden not your hearts to-day, if ye will hear his voice. 

It is the opinion of many who study English grammar, 
that the sole object is to learn to parse, by which they 
understand nothing more than an ability to tell what part 
of speech a word is, what number, person, case, mood, 
or tense. If they are able to do all this with a few cor- 



ERRORS RESPECTING IT. 59 

rections, they feel as if they had learned to parse, and 
had nearly completed the study of grammar. 

This erroneous opinion of what constitutes the study 
of English grammar is cherished in the minds of youth, 
by the manner in which it is usually taught. In former 
times it was customary for the scholar to commit to 
memory all the definitions, declensions of pronouns, com- 
parison of adjectives, the conjugation of verbs, and the 
rules of syntax. It was made an exercise of memory 
only ; no explanations of terms were given, nor was the 
rationale of any thing explained. The reason or judge- 
ment was not called into action at all. When this task 
was finished the scholar was usually tired of grammar, 
and was in a hurry to begin to parse. This exercise had 
but little to do with the understanding ; the scholar parsed 
more by rote than by any real knowledge he had of the 
subject. 

There is another error in relation to this matter, very 
prevalent among teachers and pupils. They have an 
idea that grammar, in some sense, existed prior to lan- 
guage, and that language was then framed according to 
its rules ; hence, if they find a rule or a definition that is 
utterly at variance with the plain dictates of reason, they 
are still very slow to beheve that the book can be wrong. 
It should be distinctly understood, that the grammar-book 
contains a system of rules and principles, gathered from 
an extensive and careful examination of language. It 
was found that the verb and its agent always agree in 
number ; that the plural of nouns is generally formed by 
adding s ; that adjectives have no number, but degrees 
of comparison ; and that future time indefinite is expressed 
by the auxiliary shall or will. These are facts gathered 
from the study of language, and not made to accord with 
rules. It is possible that, in the examination of language 
in order to determine its laws, many principles have been 
laid down which fuller investigations will prove to be false, 
and that many principles have been overlooked. It is 
not to be supposed that every grammar is perfect, and 
that none can hereafter be produced that shall approach 
nearer perfection than the old ones. 



60 ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 

Murray's Grammar has been more extensively us« ,1 
than any other. Nearly half of those published by otli 
authors have been abridgements or improvements upon 
Murray. Why follow on in the track of this author ? 
The reason seems to be, because his book is supposed 
to be nearly perfect, and that a few alterations will make 
it just what is needed. If Murray was living, he would 
not claim for his book perfection, nor infallibility. He 
would tell an inquirer that he was bred a merchant, and, 
on account of ill health, which confined him to the house 
most of the time for twenty years, he turned his attention 
to making, or rather to compiling, school-books, for the 
purpose of obtaining a livelihood, and with the hope of 
being useful to the young. He would say that he had 
not examined the laws of language, nor its principles of 
formation, so accurately, that he was sure that he had 
published '' the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." 

It is often asked. At what age may a child commence 
the study of grammar ? This is a practical question, which 
every teacher should be able to answer. Jf the question 
were put to me, I should say, it depends on the manner 
in which the child is to be taught. If he is to be taught 
according to the old method above described, 1 should 
say he ought never to begin ; but if according to a method 
now to be described, I should let the child begin the 
study of grammar when he begins to write. 

If I were to instruct a juvenile class in this Jbranch, I 
should not wish my pupils to have a book, but would 
make the study, at first, an amusement rather than a task. 
I would first define a noun, and then ask them to mention 
some words that are nouns. The children may say. Book, 
fire, and boy, are nouns. Why are they nouns ? Because 
they are names. I should ask them to mention the names 
of all the nouns in the room ; then to mention the names 
of some of the nouns out of the house. I would thus 
drill them, stopping occasionally to explain something 
curious in regard to some of the things, or to relate a brief 
anecdote, and close with a promise to teach them some- 
thing new to-morrow, and request them to write on the 
slate such other names as mav occur to their minds. The 



MODE OF TEACHING IT. 61 

second lesson may be the difference between common 
and proper nouns, with similar illustrations. 

The third lesson may be the verb, omitting for the 
present the distinctions of active, passive, and neuter, 
and the consideration of mood and tense. Let the whole 
effort be to fix in the pupil's mind the true idea of a verb, 
and how it differs from a noun. One prominent idea of 
a verb is, that it expresses the action or motion of an 
agent, as, the knife cuts. The child should dwell on the 
distinction between the agent and the action ; between the 
knife, and what the knife does. 

Adjectives may next claim attention ; then the article, 
and then perhaps the personal pronouns. The teacher 
must exercise some judgement in fixing the order of the 
lessons. He should particularly avoid all those subjects 
that are very intricate, until the child is advanced far 
enough to be put into a higher class, and to use a book. 

I do not see why children may not be taught much 
respecting English grammar, that will be to them both 
useful and interesting. There is certainly much that they 
can understand better than they can the Child's Philoso- 
phy or Astronomy. The reason why this study is dull and 
uninteresting to most children and youth is, because their 
teachers have not pursued the right course. They have 
required their pupils to commit the principles of the gram- 
mar to memory without understanding them, and have 
then put them to parsing, and required, even of new be- 
ginners, that they parse in what " my teacher" used to 
call the prolix mode, that is, to tell all about the part of 
speech ; if it was a verb, I must tell the kind, the mood, 
tense, &c. The same verb undergoes more than one 
hundred changes ; and it is an Herculean task to put upon 
a novitiate, to require him to tell in which of the one 
hundred places any given verb may be found. If the 
pupil be required, in his first parsing lesson, to enter into 
all the minute particulars that older scholars do, there is 
no wonder he becomes confused and disgusted. 

It is irrational to proceed with a child in this manner. 
It is like requiring a student in arithmetic to commit to 
memory all the rules, from Addition to Position, before he 
6 



62 ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 

begins to cipher, and then give him a sum in the Rule of 
Three. In all other studies it is customary to begin with 
the simple elements, and to advance, step by step, from 
that which is plain to that which is difficult. So it should 
be in grammar. 

I have no doubt that the faulty manner in which this 
science has been taught, has been an injury to many 
children ; it has damped their zeal for learning, and proved 
the occasion of preventing their acquiring that amount of 
knowledge which they otherwise would. 

Having explained the mode of teaching a juvenile class 
in English grammar, I proceed now to explain the method 
of teaching classes more advanced. 

Some teacliers require the scholars to parse one line 
each, and if they name the parts of speech correctly, and 
tell the government of the words, they do well ; no ques- 
tions are asked, nor instruction given. Some teachers 
select a word here and there, and thus require them to 
parse only selected words, without giving attention to the 
sense. 

My own mode of parsing I will explain, so far as I am 
able. Turn to Luke xii. 1. 

" In the mean time, when there were gathered together 
an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they 
trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples, 
First of all, beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, 
which is hypocrisy." 

What is the first verb in this verse ? Were gathered. 
What kind of a verb ? Passive. What is a passive verb ? 
Scholar gives the definition. What does it agree with ? 
Multitude. What part of speech is multitude ? Noun. 
What word describes the multitude 9 Innumerable. 
What part of speech is innumtrable 9 Adjective. What 
word can you substitute for innumerable 9 Countless. 
A countless multitude of what ? People. What con- 
nects people and multitude 9 — What is of 9 What is a 

preposition ? — How gathered 9 Together. What part 
of speech is together 9 — What is an adverb ? — What took 
place when the multitude^ kc. ? He began to say. 
What joins the two sentences, he began, and the multitude 



MODE OF TEACHING IT. 63 

were gathered 9 When ; he began when, &c. How 
close together were they gathered 9 That they trode, 
&c. What connects were gathered and trode 9 That. 
What is insomuch 9 — What does it modify ? — Of which 
of the three sentences is the phrase, in the mean time, an 
adjunct ? He began in the mean time to say. To say 
what ? Beware of the leaven, &c. What does leaven 
mean ? — Whose leaven 9 — Who were the Pharisees 9 — 
Why beware of their leaven 9 

Such is the general mode in which I think English 
grammar should be taught. Bring into view the meaning 
of the sentence, define the words, trace their relations 
and connexions, and pay very particular attention to little 
words, as, so, if, and, but, as well as, &c.; they are the 
hinges on which the sentence often turns. It is of no 
use to run over a page without attending to particulars. 
To parse is to interpret, to reason, to criticise, and define. 

A teacher who is not qualified to pursue such a course 
in English grammar as above described, has yet to learn 
first princijiles ; if he cannot point the scholar onward to 
something further, he will sink down into a state of apathy 
and indifference. 

A teacher can hardly expect to be successful in teach- 
ing English grammar, unless he has a knowledge of many 
subjects which he does not teach, and especially a more 
extensive knowledge than is usually obtained in Common 
Schools. He must not only be able to help the young 
traveller in the paths of knowledge over obstacles that he 
may meet, but point him to the flowery fields and fruit- 
bearing groves that lie in prospect. 

One object of study is to improve the mind, by exer- 
cising properly every faculty. It is not enough to strength- 
en the memory ; it is of far greater importance that some 
pains be taken to call forth the reasoning faculty. This 
some teachers neglect to do, when a fine opportunity is 
thrown in their way. If a scholar gives an erroneous an- 
swer to a question, they correct it, instead of teaching 
the scholar to correct it himself. The mother does not 
walk for her child, but teaches him to walk. The eagle 
does not always fly for her young, but she teaches them to 



64 ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 

fly. The child cannot reason ; he has the facuhy, and his 
teacher must lead him through the mazy windings of a 
process of reasoning. His imagination is feeble ; his pin- 
ions are small ; he does not dare to soar aloft. The 
teacher must do for his pupil what the eagle does for her 
young ; he must take him on his wings, rise upward, 
then dart from beneath him, and, if he begins to fall, catch 
him and bear him up again. The study of English gram- 
mar opens a delightful field in which to exercise the rea- 
soning powers. Suppose the class are parsing a couplet 
from Pope, — 

" Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law, 
Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw." 

Perhaps the scholar says. Child is an adjective ; if I 
say. No, it is a noun, and pass along, there is no reason- 
ing. But instead of disposing of the subject in this sum- 
mary manner, I ask. What is the, before child ? He 
knows, most likely, that the is always a definite article ; 
very well ; What is an article ? A word prefixed to a 
noun, is the reply. I ask again, To what is the prefix- 
ed, the what ? To child. What part of speech, then, 
must child be ? By this time, the scholar is able to 
correct himself. He had knowledge enough to answer 
right at first, but he did not know how to use it to produce 
more ; he did not know how to reason. I thus lead his 
mind through a process of reasoning, and do him good. 
After conducting him in this manner a few days, you will 
perceive the pupil will begin to go a few steps alone. 

Another scholar comes to the word kindly, and because 
adverbs so often end in ly, he calls it an adverb. I im- 
mediately ask, What is an adverb ? He defines it ; I in- 
quire what word kindly is added to, or modifies ; kindly 
what ? He says, Kindly law. Very well ; and what part 
of speech is law ? A noun, sir. And what part of speech 
is added to a noun ? An adjective. Is kindly, then, an 
adverb ? By this time he sees his error, confesses it, and 
goes on. By carrying forward a recitation in this manner, 
I can exercise every faculty of a child's mind ; and if 
he studies nothing but English grammar, he will be better 
qualified for acting well his part in life. 



I 



MODE OF TEACHING IT. 65 

There is a strange inclination in scholars to hurry over 
every study. The depth of a person's knowledge is usually 
in the inverse ratio to the surface over which it spreads. 
I shall now bring this chapter to a close with an extract 
from the writings of a teacher of former times : " The 
first and chiefest point is, that the diligent master make 
not the scholar haste too much ; but that in continuance, 
and diligence of teaching, he make him to rehearse 
so, that while he hath not perfectly that which is behind, 
he suffereth him not to proceed ; for this posting haste 
overthroweth and hurteth a great sort of wits, and casteth 
them into an amazedness, when they know not how they 
shall go forward, or backward, but stick fast as one plunged, 
that cannot tell what to do, or which way to turn, and 
then the master thinketh the scholar to be a dullard, and 
the scholar thinketh the study too hard for his wit, and the 
one hath an evil opinion of the other, when the fault is in 
neither, but in the manner of teaching." 



66 ARITHMETIC. 



CHAPTER XL 

•Arithmetic. — Mode of Teaching. — Fractions. 

The object of Arithmetic is to explain the various 
methods of computing by numbers. It is a study 
that calls for the exercise of judgement or reason. A 
fickle, flighty child does not like it ; but if such a one 
should ever acquire a fondness for it, he will become more 
firm and rational. 

" It was said by Charles XII. of Sweden, that he who 
was ignorant of the arithmetical art was but half a man." 
It is to be feared that arithmetic in the Common School 
is now studied so superficially, that children and youth do 
not obtain that thorough knowledge that is essential to 
make them men. 

Scholars sit with a slate before them most of the day, 
plodding their way through many devious paths. Scarce- 
ly two scholars in school are studying the same rule. 
The teacher cannot hear each recite separately, for want of 
time ; the consequence is, that the proficiency of scholars 
in arithmetic is exceedingly slow. An indolent habit is 
contracted, and the sprightliness or elasticity of mind is lost. 

Scholars generally are not sufficiently interested in any 
one branch to devote their minds to it closely the whole 
time. Hence the same scholar may profitably pursue two 
or three different branches at the same time, devoting a 
certain portion of the day to each. 

Students in arithmetic should be arranged in as few 
classes as possible, and have recitations daily. 

Every child in school, unless he has arrived at perfec- 
tion in the science, should have lessons in arithmetic 
daily. The youngest may begin by learning to count. 
When this step is taken, some of the first principles of 
Notation and Numeration may be taught. 



MODE OF TEACHING. 67 

Children should first study Intellectual Arithmetic ; it 
has a surprising influence in training them to contrive 
how to perform more intricate exercises upon the slate. 

When the scholar becomes familiar with mental exer- 
cises, let him take an arithmetic and slate, and have defi- 
nite lessons, and regular recitations. Let the class be 
arranged in front of the black-board, and if a number of 
sums have been given to be wrought out previous to re- 
citation, and brought up on the slate, the teacher may take 
one scholar's slate, and he that of the one nearest to 
him, and he that of the next, and so on. Then he may 
call upon one of the scholars to tell how the sum on his 
slate is done ; if any one has a slate on which the opera- 
tion is different, request him to mention it. After the 
slates have been examined, designate some one of the 
class to perform one of the same questions, or a similar 
one, upon the black-board, and require an explanation of 
the process, and the reasons for it. Let the remaining time 
allotted to the recitation be occupied in the solution and 
explanation of questions by other members of the class. 

The teacher will be obliged sometimes to depart from 
this precise order ; for there will be points in the rule 
that will need his explanation, and sometimes there will 
be sums in the lesson which the class will be unable to 
perform ; a portion of time will be required for their so- 
lution. By pursuing this general course diligently, it is 
possible for good scholars, who have studied intellectual 
arithmetic, and the fundamental rules of written, to go 
through an elementary treatise in a term of fifteen weeks. 

All the technical terms of this branch of study should 
be carefully explained, such as subtrahend, dividend, 
quotient, &c. 

It is important to break up, if possible, the stiff and 
formal process of performing every operation exactly ac- 
cording to the directions of a book. The scholar should 
learn to take up a question, to consider its merits, and to 
fix upon a mode of solution. Much can be done towards 
the formation of such a habit of mind by abridging the rule, 
and finding the answers by a shorter process. Suppose 
the scholar is in Reduction, and the question is, How 



G8 ARITHMETIC. 

many pounds in 2 cwt. 3 qrs. and 27 lbs. ? The scholar 
will multiply by 4 and 28. Ask him how much it falls 
short of 3 cwt. ; he sees that it lacks 1 lb. ; the whole 
number of pounds, then, is 1 less than 3 times 112. 

The mode of operation in Simple Multiplication may 
be abridged. Suppose tlie multiplier to be 14,412 ; the 
operation may be performed by two multiplications in- 
stead of five ; the multiplicand may be multiplied by 12, 
and that product by 12, placing the first figure of the pro- 
duct under 4 in the place of hundreds, and it will equal 
144 times the given multiplicand, thus : — 

5 6 7 3 8 
14412 



6 8 8 5 6=12 times 56, &c. 
8 1702 72 =12 " 68, &c. 



817708056 

In the Rule of Three, if the second and third terms are 
to be multiplied and divided by the first, then the first, and 
the second or third, may be divided by any number that 
will divide them without a remainder, and the answer will 
be the same, thus : — 

Divide 1st and 3d by 9, 189 : 343 : : 81 

'' 1st and 3d by 3, 21 : 343 : : 9 

" 1st and 2d by 7, 7 : 343 : : 3 

1 : 49 : : 3, and 3 times 49 
is the answer. 

I would mention these short modes of finding the an- 
swer, chiefly to show scholars that arithmetical operations 
are not tied to a Median and Persian set of rules, but that 
any method that recognises the fundamental principles of 
arithmetic, and is rational, may be adopted. I would 
have scholars, however, first made thoroughly acquainted 
with some given rule, without trusting to their ingenuity in 
abridging their operations. 

Fractions are regarded by many teachers as useless ; 
and I have known many who have advised their pupils to 
pass by that rule, as unprofitable. There exists a kind 



FRACTIONS. 69 

of traditionary antipathy among tyroes in arithmetic against 
the study of Fractions ; they repeat the school-boy's ballad, 

" Multiplication is a vexation, 
Division is as bad, 
The Rule of Three does puzzle me, 
And Fractions makes me mad." 

These prejudices proceed, no doubt, from the mahgn 
influence of teachers, who attempt to conceal their igno- 
rance of Fractions, by declaring a knowledge of them to 
be unimportant. It is in my view one of the most use- 
ful rules in arithmetic ; and the scholar who understands 
it thoroughly, is able, without doubt, to teach all the other 
rules. 1 have known town committees to examine teach- 
ers only in Fractions, taking it for granted that, if they 
understood this portion of arithmetic, they were compe- 
tent to teach the whole. I have heard candidates, who 
were rejected on account of their deficiency in arithme- 
tic, say that the examination was unfair, for they were 
examined only in Fractions. These facts show the -esti- 
mation in which this part of arithmetic is held by intelli- 
gent men and good scholars. Intellectual arithmetic is 
very necessary, to prepare the minds of youth to study 
Fractions successfully. 

If it be considered that, in almost every purchase or 
sale that is made, the price consists of a whole number 
and a fraction, as 4^ cents, or 2J dollars, it will be perceiv- 
ed that some knowledge of tliis matter is necessary, to ena- 
ble an individual to calculate readily the gross value of 
his goods. In multiplying and dividing decimals, the 
mistakes, that the oldest and best scholars in Common 
Schools, and even in academies, make, are astonishing. 

Children are not taught to have confidence in their own 
performances in arithmetic. They go by a rule ; and if 
they have gone exactly by the rule, they suppose it to be 
right, though a very little reflection would convince them 
that the result is entirely wrong. A scholar should under- 
stand his operation so fully, that, if disputed, he can de- 
fend it. It is very common for youth to rub out all their 
work, if the teacher talks as though it were wrong. 



I 



70 VISIBLE ILLUSTRATIONS, 



CHAPTER XII. 

Visible Illustrations. — Use of Apparatus. 

The mind receives its materials of knowledge through 
the organs of sense. We have no evidence that a mind, 
having no organs of communication with matter, would 
increase in knowledge. By this, I do not mean that all 
our ideas are derived originally through the medium of 
the senses. But those which are thus received, as Du- 
gald Stuart says, seem to be the occasion of the com- 
mencement of a train of thought in the mind. I look at 
two men, and, from the conception I have of those men, 
there arises in my mind an idea of their relative height or 
size. We first get ideas through the senses, and by com- 
paiing them, reflecting upon thein, or by reasoning about 
them, there springs up in the mind a new class of ideas, 
more purely intellectual than the original thoughts. 

The abundance of one's intellectual knowledge, and 
the degree of his mental improvement, will depend some- 
what on the number of his ideas of sense, but more on 
the distinctness with which the mind perceives them. 
Unless the original perception is distinct and clear, it is a 
useless material ; the mind cannot manufacture it into any 
thing valuable. 

It is well known that the ideas of some of the senses are 
more distinct than those of others ; the impressions made 
upon the mind through the eye are more vivid and distinct, 
than those made through hearing, tasting, or smelling. It 
is generally more difficult for persons to conceive how an 
absent object feels, than how it looks. Hence there is a 
greater probability of getting access to a child's mind 
through the eye, than through either of the other perceiv- 
ing organs. If, therefore, a way can be devised to bring 



USE OF APPARATUS. 71 

the ideas we wish to communicate to a child to the win- 
dow of vision, we are very sure they will get admis- 
sion. 

It is desirable to present the thought to as many of the 
senses as possible, for in this way it is more likely to arrest 
the attention of the pupil, than if presented to one sense 
only. The different senses view the object or subject in 
different aspects ; if, therefore, we can approach the child's 
mind through two, three, or four senses at the same time, 
he will know more respecting what is taught than if we ap- 
proach it through one sense. Present to the eye of a 
child something he has never seen, and he is not satisfied ; 
he wishes to touch it, to taste, or smell of it ; for by these 
several tests he becomes better acquainted with the object. 

It must be evident, from these remarks, that it is ex- 
ceedingly important for teachers, while they explain a 
matter to their pupils by words, that fall on the ear, to 
present it at the same time to the eye. The fact, that 
teaching by visible illustrations is so strictly in accordance 
with the established principles of intellectual philosophy, 
and, whenever used, has always been benefical, recom- 
mends it to the attention and practice of every teacher of 
Common Schools. 

The Bible, I know, was not designed to teach us how 
to instruct in human science ; yet, it being a revelation 
from Him who created the mind, we have reason to con- 
clude that its teachings are communicated in the manner 
best calculated to make a deep and lasting impression. 
And in what manner is Divine knowledge set forth in the 
Scriptures ? The Jews were instructed by the aid of vis- 
ible illustrations ; the miracles in Egypt, the cloudy and 
fiery pillar, the water from the rock, the manna, &c., are 
examples of the employment of this method. 

The prophets, especially Ezekiel, were abundant in 
this mode of teaching. He took a tile, and portrayed 
upon it a city, and taught respecting the city of Jerusalem. 
He was directed to cut off his hair, and divide and weigh 
it ; to set a pot upon the fire to boil, and cast away the 
scum ; and to employ various other similitudes, to illus- 
trate his revelations. Our Saviour taught in the same 



72 VISIBLE ILLUSTRATIONS. 

manner ; he sat upon the well at Sannaria, and talked 
about a well of water springing up unto everlasting life. 

Numerous examples of the use of this method of in- 
struction will suggest themselves to the reader. Pictures 
are introduced into children's books, and maps and globes 
are used in the study of geography, and apparatus in illus- 
trating all the sciences, because it is thought necessary to 
resort as much as possible to visible illustrations of truth 
whenever it is practicable. Here is an ample field for 
the teacher to exercise his ingenuity ; it requires some- 
times much presence of mind to be able, in the hurry of 
a moment, as soon as a child's difficulty is discovered, to 
fix upon a happy and successful mode of illustrating the 
thing to the eye. This cannot be learned wholly from 
books ; it is acquired much as the use of figurative lan- 
guage is acquired, by good writers or public speakers. A 
teacher who is satisfied with committing his instructions 
to the wind, and to run the risk of their being gathered 
into the ear of tiie child, and through that to his mind, is 
not doing all he can to aid his pupils in the acquisition of 
knowledge. Neither are parents doing all they can to fa- 
cihtate the progress of their children in learning, if school- 
houses are not furnished with such apparatus as may be 
necessary for visible illustrations. 

A teacher may talk learnedly on a subject, without 
being able to illustrate it to the eye ; he must have a more 
accurate knowledge of the idea he attempts to illustrate, 
than of that he explains by words. It is desirable that 
all teachers and pupils should so understand the subject 
they study or teach, that they can illustrate it to others. 



MORAL EDUCATION. 73 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Moral Education. — Its Importance. — The Bible. 

Plato, in his writings, teaches that the end of educa- 
tion and of the instruction of youth is to make them better; 
not simply more intellectual, but more moral. He says 
of Pericles, he "filled Athens with temples, theatres, 
statues, and public buildings, beautified it with the most 
famous monuments, and set it off with ornaments of gold ; 
but can any one name the man, native or foreigner, old 
or young, that he made wiser or better?" From the time 
of Pericles, the Athenians began to degenerate ; they be- 
came idle, effeminate, babblers, and busy-bodies, fond 
of extravagance and vain superfluity. 

Education, in the common and popular sense, is limited 
to the cultivation of the intellect, and to an acquaintance 
with the elements of useful knowledge. One is said to 
be well educated, who has been accurately taught the 
rudiments of what is called learning. Let it be remember- 
ed, that he is not in the true sense educated, who is not 
made wiser and better. 

Man has not only an intellect, but a heart ; not only 
reason and judgement, but passions. In childhood and 
youth the emotions are strongest ; the faculties of the 
understanding are not developed until a later period. In 
the infant, the lowest active emotion, such as a desire for 
food, is first developed ; at a later period the passive 
emotions, as fear, love, anger, &c. begin to be developed.^ 
Every thing around children is calculated to call forth and 
exercise the passions. We do not find it necessary to 
strengthen them ; the great thing is to guard, control, or 
direct them properly ; they must be curbed, and brought 
under the dominion of the understanding, the faculties 
7 



74 MORAL EDUCATION. 

of which unfold more slowly. Education has something 
to do with the heart as well as the head. 

In educating the understanding, we teach children the 
principles of science, both the theoretical and practical ; 
but what shall we teach children in order to elevate the 
tone of their moral feelings, and qualify them to act well 
their part in the various relations of life ? A knowledge 
of geography, arithmetic, and philosophy will not make 
children more honest, nor more fond of truth. " Every 
day's experience gives proof of this. The fraternity of 
forgers, swindlers, and cheats, so numerous and formida- 
ble, consists for the most part of those whose Intellects 
have been cultivated by science ; but their moral education 
having been neglected, their learning Is a curse to them 
and all about them." What book shall be used as a text- 
book by those who would give moral instruction ? I an- 
swer, the Bible is the book that must be used for this 
purpose. A high tone of morals cannot be expected In 
any community from which the Bible is excluded. The 
principles inculcated in this book, coming, as they do, from 
''Him in whom we live, and move, and have our being," 
and being enforced, as they are, by such powerful motives, 
cannot be taught without producing some beneficial re- 
sults. The truths contained in this book, God has 
directed us to communicate to children. " Thou shalt 
teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of 
them when thou sittest In thy house, and when thou walkest 
by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou 
risest up."* Children are to be brought up " in the nur- 
ture and admonition of the Lord,"f i. e., they are to be 
brought up " In the Instruction and information of the 
Lord," in a knowledge of the Scriptures. All men are 
required to search the Scriptures, to adopt them as the rule 
of life. If It be asked, " How shall a young man (a youth) 
cleanse his way?" the answer is, " By giving heed 
thereto according to thy word." If God designed the 
Bible to be a light to the feet, and a lamp to the path of 
children, then we have no right to withhold it from them. 
It has been the text-book of morals to the children and 

* Deut. vi. 7. t Eph. vi. 4. 



THE BIBLE. 75 

youth of New England, from the beginning, and it has 
been Hke salt, preserving the people from corruption. It 
was in consequence of knowledge derived from this book, 
that our ancestors were induced to shake off the yoke of 
their oppressors. Its principles, wherever faithfully in- 
culcated, have produced internal quietness, sweetened all 
the relations of social and domestic life, imparted moral 
courage for the discharge of difficult duties, smoothed the 
pillow of the sick and dying, and thrown a light upon the 
darkness of the grave. , 

All who have read this volume with diligence and care, 
I have no doubt, are fully convinced that its influence 
upon the moral condition of the community is highly 
beneficial. Boyle, an English philosopher of the sixteenth 
century, testified that " the Bible is a matchless volume, 
which it is impossible to study too much, or to prize too 
highly." Sir Isaac Newton said, ''We account the Scrip- 
tures the most subhme philosophy." Sir Christopher Hut- 
ton, an eminent statesman, advised his friends to study the 
Bible seriously ; for, said he, " it is deservedly accounted a 
piece of excellent knowledge to understand the laws of 
the land and the customs of a man's country ; how much 
more to know the statutes of Heaven and the laws of eter- 
nity, those eternal and immutable laws of righteousness !" 

It is easy to collect testimonies in favor of the study 
of the Bible. Not only philosophers and statesmen, but 
judges, poets, orators, and indeed men in all ranks of 
life, have found it an antidote for moral evil. Lord Byron 
recommends the Bible in the following lines : — 

" Within this awful volume lies 
The mystery of mysteries ; 
O ! happy they, of human race. 
To whom our God has given grace 
To hear, to read, to fear, and pray. 
***** 
But better had they ne'er been born 
Who read to doubt, or read to scorn." 

The Bible is the book from which those lessons of moral 
instruction are to be derived, with which the minds of 
children and youth ought very early to be imbued. 



76 MORAL EDUCATION. 

Some perhaps may say, that school-teachers are hired 
to teach the elements of Jiuman science. It is true, but 
this is not all ; correct moral principles must be inculca- 
ted in the Common School ; for a portion of the children, 
in almost every school district, will grow up under the in- 
fluence of immoral instruction, if they do not receive it 
from the school-teacher. Their parents will not teach 
them, and they seldom if ever attend a Sabbath school ; 
unless, therefore, moral and religious instruction be mad* 
to bear upon them in these nurseries for training the young., 
they will be nuisances to society. The State very wisely, 
directs the teachers of Common Schools, '' to exert their 
best endeavors to impress on the minds of children and 
youth, committed to their care and instruction, the princi-/ 
pies of piety, justice, and a sacred regard to truth ; love 
to their country, humanity, and universal benevolence ; 
sobriety, industry, and frugality; chastity, moderation, and 
temperance, and those other virtues, which are the orna- 
ment of human society, and the basis upon which a re- 
publican constitution is founded ; and it shall be the duty 
of such instructers, to endeavor to lead their pupils, as 
their ages and capacities wmII admit, into a clear under- 
standing of the tendency of the above-mentioned virtues, 
to preserve and perfect a republican constitution, and 
secure the blessings of liberty, as w^ell as to promote their 
future happiness, and also to point out to them the evil 
tendency of the opposite vices." 

I am aware that there is a great diversity of opinion in 
regard to the manner in which the Bible ought to be used. 
Some w^ould use it as a reading-book ; but others think 
that to use it for a common and secular purpose will de- 
stroy, or rather prevent, the formation of those sacred as- 
sociations that ought to cluster around the Bible. I con- 
fess myself to be of this number. I think it should not 
be considered as a book in which the child is to be drilled 
in emphasis, cadence, inflection, and pauses. I would 
have the children read from it once a day, but I would 
endeavor to impress upon their minds, that it is a more 
important book than the one in which they usually read ; 
that God is its author ; that He requires all to be doers 



THE BIBLE. 77 

of his word, as well as hearers or readers, and that we 
''shall be judged out of those thmgs written" m the book. 
A school-teacher of a former generation mentions the 
following method of using the Bible in-school : — Two or 
three times in a week, he told his pupils to study hard thirty 
minutes, and then they might lay down their books and he 
Would tell them a story. He always selected a story from 
ihe Bible, and related it in a familiar, but serious and digni- 
fied style. When he had finished, he would ask the schol- 
ars if any of them recollected to have ever heard or read 
the story. Sometimes a scholar would recognise it, and 
sometimes not. They were then told to turn to a certain 
chapter and verse, and read the story for themselves. By 
this means a very great desire was awakened among the 
children to read the Bible through. At the close of his 
school one winter, he found that several children had be- 
gun to read the Bible in course ; some had gone almost 
half way through. Among the children that winter that 
were most eager to read, were two or three from the 
family of a Deist, who was opposed to employing this 
man to instruct. At the close of the school the Deist 
voted to employ him a month or two longer, and proposed 
raising his wages five dollars per month, provided he 
would not stay without. He said he found the children 
tcould leanij and he was willing they should read the 
Bible, if the teacher would make good scholars of them. 

(Similar to this was the method adopted by another 
teacher, contemporary with the former. On Saturday he 
would tell the children some singular fact, and request them 
to find the story, and read the chapter containing it on 
Monday, instead of the usual reading lesson. One object 
was, to induce the children to spend their Sabbaths in 
searching the Scriptures. It had the desired effect. His 
lessons were given out in this manner : " You may find 
the chapter that tells about the king whose eyes were put 
out ;" or, '' the chapter that tells about the king's son who 
was lamed by the carelessness of his nurse;" or, ''you 
may read about the captain who was cured in consequence 
of what a little captive girl told him of the ability of a 

prophet to heal him." 

7# 



78 MORAL EDUCATION. 



» — 

There is another method that has been adopted with 
very beneficial results. If a child is angry, or if any 
scholar exhibits a contentious spirit, let a class read on 
the occasion selections of Scripture touching that sub- 
ject ; or if any scholar tells hes, is disobedient to parents, 
or is indolent, or profane, or conducts in any way im- 
properly, appeal to the law and testimony of God on the 
subject, and require the offender, or the class to which he 
belongs, to read an appropriate selection from the Bible. 
Selections should be made by the teacher at his leisure, 
and kept in readiness. 

If the Bible is used somewhat in the manner now rec- 
ommended, it will not fail to produce a beneficial effect 
upon the consciences, the passions, and upon the intel- 
lects of the rising generation. In schools where the 
Bible is used, and acknowledged as the standard of mo- 
rahty and religion, as containing the principles of Com- 
mon Law, there will be more order and quietness ; the 
children will be more easily governed, and will make 
greater proficiency in their studies. It seems that the 
human mind, while the powers of the intellect are unfold- 
ing and strengthening, need the infiuence of the Bible to 
curb the passions, and throw light upon the conscience. 
If facts prove the truth of this position, as I think they 
do, then the theories spun in the study of speculative 
philosophers, against the use of the Bible, fall at once. 
I know teachers, who, by the aid of moral power, by 
moral instruction and example, have succeeded well in 
promoting the intellectual improvement of the young, 
when it was plain that they had not mental vigor enough 
to sustain themselves. 

What is true of schools is true of individuals ; every 
man needs that influence which the Bible is fitted to pro- 
duce, in order to give a proper balance to his mind, and 
to cast light upon the path of duty. Sir William Jones 
was in the constant habit of studying the sacred volume ; 
Boerhaave spent the first hour of each day in reading the 
Scriptures. It may be said of Mihon, Locke, Matthew 
Hale, and many others distinguished for their scientific 



THE bible; 



79 



and literary attainments, that they were constant and de- 
lighted readers of the Bible. 

It is pleasing to know that so many teachers are m- 
clined to watch over the morals as well as the minds of 
children. It is a sound doctrine, that " the fear of the 
Lord is the beginning of knowledge." In order to de- 
rive the greatest possible benefit from such instruction, 
and that benefit without which New England, and all the 
States in the Union, will sink in the scale of moral worth, 
parents must feel its importance more deeply. If they 
can teach them the Scriptures at home, still it is impor- 
tant, that he who informs the understanding, should at 
the same time attempt to improve the heart. If parents 
only preferred teachers who would educate the whole 
soul of a child, the emotions and affections, as well as 
the memory, reason, and imagination, and would signify 
that preference, teachers, I have no doubt, would quali- 
fy themselves for that department. As it is, they give 
moral instruction or not, as they please. I know a small 
town in this State that formerly furnished many school- 
teachers. Within twenty years, two of their teachers 
have been laid in a drunkard's grave, another has been 
put into the State's Prison, and two others have embraced 
infidel sentiments. Wo to the youth of New England, if 
such men are to be their teachers ! 

Plutarch says, respecting the customs of the ancient 
Greeks, "It is our fashion to discuss whether virtuous 
habits and upright living can be taught ; we also wonder 
that skilful orators, good architects, and navigators are 
so plenty, while good men are known only by report ; 
they are as rare as giants or Cyclops. We are taught to 
play on musical instruments, how to read, to put on 
clothes, and to prepare food ; but the object for which all 
this is done, to wit, to live a good and useful life, re- 
mains untaught." Is it not too true, that hoic to live a 
good and useful life, too often remains untaught in the 
Common School ? How few teachers, when asked what 
they do in their profession, can say, " I teach the children 
of my Country to like that which is good !" 



THE SCHOOL ADVERTISER NO. H. 

AUGUST, 1839. 



THE SCHOOL LIBRARY. 



MARSH, CAPEN, LYON, AND WEBB, 

109, Washington Street, Boston, 

Are now publishing, under the sanction of the Mas- 
sachusetts Board of Education, a collection of ori- 
ginal AND selected WORKS, ENTITLED, ' TlIE vScHOOL 

Library.' 

The Library will embrace two series of fifty volumes 
each ; the one to be in 18mo., averaging from 250 to 280 
pages per volume ; the other in 12mo., each volume con- 
taining from 350 to 400 pages. The former, or Juvenile 
Scries, is intended for children of ten or twelve years of 
age and under; the latter for individuals of that age, and 
upwards, — in other words, for advanced scholars and their 
parents. 

The Library is to consist of reading, and not school, 
class, or text books ; the design being to furnish youth with 
suitable works for perusal during their leisure hours ; works 
that will interest, as well as instruct them, and of such a 
character that they will turn to them with pleasure, when 
it is desirable to unbend from the studies of the school 
room. 

The plan will embrace every department of Science and 
Literature, preference being given to works relating to 
our own Country, and illustrative of the history, institutions, 
manners, customs, Stc, of our own people. Being intended 
for the 7vhole community, no work of a sectarian or de- 
nominational character in religion, or of a partisan char- 
acter in politics, will be admitted. 

The aim will be to clothe the subjects discussed, in a 
popular garb, that they may prove so attractive, as to lure 



2 

the child onwards, fix his attention, and induce him, sub- 
sequently, to seek information from other and more re- 
condite works, which, if put into his hands at the onset, 
would alarm him, and induce a disgust for that which 
would appear dry and unintelligible, and of course, un- 
interesting. 

The intention is not to provide information for any one 
class, to the exclusion of others, but to disseminate knowl- 
edge among all classes. The Publishers wish the cliildren 
of the Farmer, the Merchant, the Manufacturer, the Me- 
chanic, the Laborer, — all to profit by the lights of science 
and literature, that they may be rendered the more virtu- 
ous and happy, and become more useful to themselves, to 
one anotiicr, to the community, and mankind at large. 
To accomplish this desirable end, the Library will em- 
brace so wide a range of subjects, that every child may 
find something which will prove useful and profitable to 
him, whatever his situation, circumstances, or pursuits, in 
afterlife may be. 

Tiie project is one of great extent, and vast importance; 
and, if properly carried out, must become of inestimable 
value to the young. Wiiether the anticipations of the 
Publishers, with regard to it, will be verified, time must 
determine ; but from the intellectual and moral, theoretical 
and practical character of those who have engaged to aid 
in the undertaking, they have good grounds for presuming 
that much will be accomplished, and that l)y their united 
efforts many obstacles, now existing to the mental, moral, 
and physical improvement of youth, will be removed, or at 
least be rendered more easily surmountable. 

Among the individuals already engaged as writers for 
one or both Series, may be mentioned — the Hon. Judge 
Story, Jared Sparks, Esq., Washington Irving, Esq., Rev. 
Dr. Wayland, Professor Benjamin Silliman, Professor Den- 
nison Olmsted, Professor Alonzo Potter, Hon. Judge Buel, 
Dr. Jacob Bigelow, Dr. Robley Dunglison, Dr. Elisha 
Bartlett, Rev. Charles W. Upham, Rev. F. W. P. Green- 
wood, Rev. Royal Robbins, Rev. Warren Burton, Ar- 
thur J. Stansbury, Esq., E. C. Wines, Esq., Robert Ran- 
toul, Jr., Esq., Professor Tucker, and Professor Elton. 

Mrs. Sarah J. Hale, Mrs. E. F. Ellet, Mrs. Emma C. 
Embury, Mrs. A. H. Lincoln Phelps, Miss E. Robbing, 



Miss E. P. Peabody, Miss Mary E. Lee, Miss Caroline 
Sedgwick. 

No work will be admitted into the Library, unless it be 
approved by every member of the Board of Education ; 
which Board consists of the following individuals, viz., 
His Excellency Edward Everett, Chairman, His Honor 
George Hull, Rev. Emerson Davis, Edmund Dwight, 
Esq., Rev. George Putnam, Robert Rantoul, Jr., Esq., 
Rev. Thomas Robbins, D. T)., Jared Sparks, Esq., Hon. 
Charles Hudson, and Hon. George N. Briggs. 

The following works, have been printed, and constitute 
the first ten volumes of the 12mo. series, viz. 

LIFE OF COLUMBUS, by Washington Irving, a 
new edition, (revised by the author,) including a Visit to 
Palos, and other additions, a portrait of the Great Naviga- 
tor, a Map, and several illustrative engravings. 

PALEY'S NATURAL THEOLOGY, in two volumes, 
with selections from the Dissertations and Notes of Lord 
BiiouGiiAM and Sir Charles Bell, illustrated by numer- 
ous wood cuts, and prefaced by a Life of the Author ; 
(with a portrait;) the whole being newly arranged and 
adapted for The School Library, by Elisha Bartlett, 
M. D., Professor of the Theory and Practice of Phijsic and 
Pathological Ancdomy in Dartmouth College. 

LIVES OF EMINENT INDIVIDUALS, CELEBRA- 
TED IN AMERICAN HISTORY, in three vols., with 
portraits of Robert Fulton, Sebastian Cabot, and Sir Henry 
Vane, and autographs of most of the individuals. 

Vol. I. WILL COXTA.IX 
Life of Majoh-gen-eral John Stark, by His Excellency Edward Everett. 
" David Brainerd, by Rev. William B. O. Peabody. 
" Robert Fulton, by James Renwick, LL. D., Professor of Natural Phi- 

losophy and Chemistry, in Columbia College., New York City. 
" Captain John Smith, by George S. Ilillard, Esq. 
Vol. II. WILL contain 
Life of Major-general Ethan Allen, by Jarcd Spai-ks, Professor of History 
in Harvard University. 
" Sebastian Cabot, by Charles Hayward, Jr., Esq. 
" Henry Hudson, by Henry R. Cleveland, Esq. 

" Major-general Joseph Warren, by Alexander H. Everett, LL. D. 
" Mvjor-oeneral Israel Putnam, by O. W. B. Peabody, Esq. 
" David Rittenhouse, by Professor Jaraes Reuwick, LL. D. 



Vol. III. WILL CONTAIN 

Life of William Pinkney, by Ileury Wheaton, LL. D., Author of History oj 
tin: Northmen. 
" Sir lIii.Mtv Vane, by Rev. Charles VV. Uiihnm. 
" M \JOR-GE.NEHAL Antuoxy Wayne, l)\ .Joliu Arinstroiig, Esq. 
" William Klleky, by Edward T. Cliaiming, Esq. 
" Major-general Kiciiard Montoomeky, by Joliu Armstrong, Esq. 

THE SACRED PHILOSOPHY OF THE SEASONS, 
illustrating The Perfections of God in the Phenomena of 
the Year. In 4 vols. By the Rev. Henry Duncan, D. D., 
o^ RnfliwcU, Scotland; with important additions, and some 
modifications to adapt it to American readers, by the Rev. 
F. W. P. Greenwood, of Boston. 

The great value and interesting nature of these volumes, to every 
class of individuals, will be seen, at once, by a perusal of the following 
Table of Contents. The work contains a paper for every day in the year. 

VOL. I.— WINTER. 

I. ScNDAY. — Goodness of God to his Rational Creatures. The Character im- 
pressed on Nature — Coniiieiisatioii. Contrivance. 

COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 

Globular Figure of the Earth. Circulation in the Atmosphere and O 
The Atiiiospliere. Ignis Fuluus. ii. Sunday. — General Aspect of ff'n 
Phosphorescence. Aurora Borealis. Meteoric Showers. Variety of Cli:i. 
Practical Ert'ect of tlie Commercial Spirit pro(luc«-l by a Variety of Clim 
Adaptation of Organized Existences to Seasons and Climates, in. SuNii- 
TAc Omnipresence of God. A<Iaplation of Organ ed Existences to the Tii 
Regions. Adaptation of Organi/.ed Evistences to lemperalc and Polar Clin 
The Balance Preserved in llie Animal and Vegetable Creation. Night. — li 
ternation with Day. Sleep. Dreaming, iv. Sunday. — The JVorld a Stuii uj 
Discipline. 

THE STARRY HEAVENS. 
General Remarks. Gravitation and Inertia. The Planetary System. The 
Sun as the Source of Light and Heat. Motions of the Planets. Resisting ."Me- 
dium. V. Sunday. — Divine and Human Knowledge compared. The Satellites. 
Relative Proportions of the Planetary System. Distance of the Fixed Stars. 
Immensity of the Universe. Nebula. Binary Stars. 

THE MICROSCOPE. 

VI. Sunday. — Discoveries of the Telescope and Microscope compared. Wou- 
ders of the Microscope. — Infusory Animalcules. 

HYBERNATION OF PLANTS. 

Plants and Animals compared. Adjustment of the Constitution of Plants to 
the Annual Cycle. Physiological Condition of Plants during Winter. 

HYBERNATION OF INSECTS. 

Instinct, vii. Sunday.— On Seeing God in his TVorks. Reason in the Lower 
Animals. Eggs. Various States. Bees. The Snail. The Beetle, viil. SvK- 
j>XY.— Greatness of God even in the Smallest Things. 

MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS AND QUADRUPEDS DURING WINTER. 

Birds. Birds which partially migrate. Quadrupeds. 

Christmas-Day. No Scason Unpleasant to the Chekrful Mind. ii. 
Sunday. — Proofs of Divine Benevolence in the Works of Creation. 



MIGRATION OF FISHES. 

The Sturgeon, the Herring, the Cod, A-c. Cetaceous Animals. Migration from 
the Sea into Rivers. Migration of Eels. 
New-Yeau's-Day. 
Migration of the Land-Crab. x. Sv^vxY.—lFinter an Emblem of Death. 

HYBERNATION OF QUADRUPEDS. 

Clothing. Storing Instincts. Torpidity. 

HYBERNATION OF MAN. 

Privation stimulates his Faculties. Provisions for his Comfort. Adaptation 
of his Constitution to the Season, xi. Sunday.— TAe Unceasins and Universal 
Providence of God. 

INHABITANTS OF THE POLAR REGIONS. 

The Esquimaux. Food and Clothing. Dwellings and Fire. 

FROST. 

Provision for causing Ice to Float on the Surface. The Expansive and Non- 
conducting Power of Ice. Amusements connected with it. xii. Sunday. — 
Winter not Monotonous.— Boundless Variety of Nature. Efiects of Frost in the 
Northern Regions, Agency of Frost in Mountiiinous Regions. Hoar Frost. — 
Foliations on Window-Glass, &c. Beueficeut Contrivances relative to Snow. 
Sagacity and Fidelity of the Dog in Snow. 

GEOLOGY. 

Its Phenomena consistent with the Mosaic Account of the Creation, xiii. 
Sunday.— TAe Difficulty of Comprehendins; the Operations of Providence. Suc- 
cessive Periods of" Deposit. Successive Periods of Organized Existences. State 
of the Antediluvian World. Indications of the Action of the Deluge at the Period 
assi<^ned to it in Scripture. Cuvier's Calculation respecting the Deluge. Effecta 
of the Deluge on the Present Surface of the Earth, xiv. Sunday.— TAc Deluge 
a Divine Judgement. 

VOL. II.— SPRING. 

COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 

General Character of Spring in temperate Climates. Increasing Temperature 
of the Weather, and its Effects. Color and Figure of Bodies. Mountains. Rain. 
Springs. \. QvaxiKY.— Advantages of Vicissitude. Rivers. 

EEPRODDCTION OF VEGETABLES. 

Vegetable Soil. Vegetation. Preservation and Distribution of Seeds. Long 
Vitality of Seeds. Developement of Seeds and Plants, ii. ^vs-Dky.— Analogy 
of Nature. The Vital Powers of Plants. Flowers. — Their Form, Color, and 
Fragrance. Their Organs of Reproduction, and their Secretion of Honey. The 
Viofet. 

REPRODUCTION OF ANIMALS. 

The Animal Structure.- Cellular Texture — Membranes, Tendons, and Liga- 
ments. Secretion, Digestion, and the Circulation of the Blood, iii. Sunday. — 
'■'■The Same Lord over All." The Animal Structure. Gastric Juice. Muscular 
Power. Nature of the Proof of Creative Wisdom derived from the Animal Frame. 
The Lower Orders of Animals. The Higher Orders of Animals. 

INSTINCTS CONNECTED WITH THE REPRODUCTION OF ANIMALS. 

General Remarks. Parental Affection. Insects.— Their Eggs. iv. Sunday. 
—071 the Uniformity or Sameness in the Natural and Moral fVorld. Insects. — 
Care of their Offspring, exemplified in Bees and Wasps. The Moth. The Bury- 
ing-Beetle. The Ant. Gall Flies. Deposition of Eggs in the Bodies of Animals, 
and in Insects' Nests. Birds.— Their Eggs. Prospective Contrivances, v. Sun- 
day.— On the Domestic Afections. Birds.— Relation of their Bodies to external 
Nature. Pairing. Nest-building. The Grossbeak. The Humming-bird. vi. 
^va-DKY .—Regeneration. Birds.— Nests of Swallows. Hatching of Eggs, and 
rearing the Brbod. Quudrupeds.— The Lion. The Rabbit. Instincts of the Young. 



Man.— EfTccts of protracted Childhood on the Individual. Effects of protracted 
Childhood on the Parents and on Society, vu. Sunday. — On t'firistiati Love. 

AGRICULTURE. 

Tiie Difference between the Operations of Reason and Insiinct, as affoniing 
Arguments in Favor of the Divine Perfections. Origin of Agriculuiral Labor. 
Origin of Properly in the Soil, and the Division of Ranks. Ellects of Properly 
in llie Soil. Ileneliis derived from the Principles which Stimulate Agricultural 
Improvement. The Blessings of Labor, viii. Sinday. — Spiritual Trainimr by 
AJjiictiun. Nature of Soils. Formation of Soils. Management of Soils. — Drain- 
ing. Inijiulion. Blair-Drummond Moss. Products of the Soil. — Disseminaiioa 
of Plants. IX. Sunday. — The Sower. Dissemination of Plants. — The Cocoa- 
Nut Tree. Mitigation of Seasons occasioned by Cultivation. The Labors of the 
Husbandman wisely distributed over the Year. The Corn IMants. — Their M>s- 
terious Origin. Their Distribution over the Globe. Wheat, x. Slnuay. — Sab- 
bath Morning. The Corn-Plants. — IJnrley, Oats, Rice, Maize, and Millet. 
Leguminous I'lants. — Peas and Deans. Esculent Roots. — The Potato. Veyetalde 
Substances used for Weaving. The Flax Plant, xi. Sunday. — True Science the 
Handmaid of Reliirion. Vegetable Substances used for Weaving. The Cotton 
Plant. Vegetable Substances used for Cordage. — Hemp. Vegetable Substances 
used for Pa]>er. 

ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 

The Sacrament of the Supper. The Crucifixion. The Grave, xii. Sunday. 
— The Resurrection. 

Enjoyment ec^ually Distributed. The E.njovments of the Poor in 
BrRiNo. The Woods. 

retrospective view of the argument. 

The Power and Intelligence of the Creator. The Goodness of the Creator. 
The Use and Deficiency of Natural Religion. 



VOL. III.— SUMMER. 

COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 

I. Sunday.— 5»/mm€r the Perfection of the Year. Increased Heat. Internal 
Heat of the Earth. Increased Light. Elertricity. Clouds. Dew. n. Sun- 
day. — Scriptural Allusions to the Dew. Adaptations of the Faculties of Living 
Leings to the Properties of Light and Air. 

VEOETADLES. 

Growth of Vegetables. Principles on which Horticulture is founded. History 
of Horticulture. Tiie Turnip. Brassica or Cabbage, iii. Sunday. — Spiritual 
Light. Various Garden Vegetables. Flowers— The Rose. Fruits. Ingrafling. 
The Gooseberry and Currant. The Orchard, iv. Sunday. — Spiritual Soil. Pro- 
ductions of Warm Climates used for Human Food.— The Banana. The Date Palm. 
Trees used for other Purposes than Food. Vegetable Substances used in Tan- 
ning. Vegetable Fixed Oils. Vegetable Oils— Essential and Empyrenmatic. 
Vegetable Tallow and Wax. v. SiVJinw .—Spiritual Culture. Vegetable Life 
iu the Polar Regions. 

ANIMALS. 

Connexion between the Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms. The Sensorial Or- 
gans. Sensation and Pcrcciition. The Argonaut and Nautilus. The Coral In- 
Bcct. VI. HirsDW.— The Invisible Architect. Insect Transformations — Cocoons 
—The Silk-Worm. Insects- Their Larva State. Their Pupa or Chrvsalis State. 
Their Imago or Perfect Slate. The Building Spider. Spider's Webb.' vu. Sun- 
Ttw.— Spiritual Transformation. Insp„.s— Legionary and Sanguine Ants. The 
I. ion Ant— The t^neen-Bee. Phvsie'.ogical Character of Vertebrated Animals. 
Reptiles— The Tortoisc—TheSer:,ent. viii. Sv^vw.— The Old Serpent. Rep- 
tiles—The Saurian Tribes. Hirds— Their Relative Position. The Bill. Their 
Power of Flying. Their Power of Vision. Their Voice. Their Selection of 
Food. IX. Svs\y\Y.—ThjAscen.<tion of Christ. Birds— Their Gregarious Habits. 
Domestic Fowls— The Cock, the Turkcv, and the Peacock. The Goose and the 
Duck. Bii-ds of Prey— The Vulture. The Eagle. Predaceous Animals— Their 



Offices in Nature, x. Slxday. — Christ the Judc^e of the World. Quadrupetls — 
Their Chanicteristics. Their Hodily Organs. Theliat. The Mouse. Ruminat- 
ing — Tiie Goat and Sheep. Sheep Shearing, xi. Sunday. — Christ, the Good 
Shepherd. Quadrupeds— The Shepherd's Dog. Ruminating— The Cow. Tliick- 
skinncd— The Hog. The Horse and Ass. Tiie Elephant. Reflections on tlie 
Domestic Animals. xii. Sunday. — The Destruction of the World, and the 
Renovation of the Human Frame in a Future State. Fishes. Man — His Ex- 
ternal Structure. His Intellectual Powers. His iMoral Powers. Physical Eflecta 
of Climate. Moral Effects of Climate, xiii. Sunday.- TAe Confusion of 
Tongues. Man — Human Language. 

Haymaking — Pleasures of Rural Scenery. 

The Variety, Beauty, and Utility of Organized Existences. 

retrospective view of the argument. 
Adaptation. Future Existence. Discijtline. 
XIV. Sunday. — The Day of Pentecost— One Language . 



VOL. IV.— AUTUMN. 

PHENOMENA, PRODUCE, AND LABORS OF THE SEASON. 

General Character of Autumn. Autumn in the City. Famine in the beginning 
of Autumn. Autumnal Vegetation. Progress of Vegetation in the Corn Plants. 
Harvest, i. Sunday. Stability of Nature. Gleaning. The Harvest Moon. 
Harvest-Home. Storing of Corn. Birds.— Their State in Autumn. 

THE WOODS. 

Their Autumnal Appearance, ii. Sunday.— T/«c Powers of the World to come. 
The Woods. Their Uses. Various Kinds and Adaptations of Timber. 
OaiGiN OF THE Arts. — Food, Clothing, and Shelter. 

HUMAN FOOD. 

Its Principle. The Moral Operation of the Principle. Its Supply not inad- 
equate. III. Sunday. — Christians '■'•Members one of another.'''' Provision for 
the I'liture.— Soil still uncultivated. Improved Cultivation. Means now in Ex- 
isteuce. Vegetable and Animal Food. Fruits- Their dualities. Drink, iv. 
Sunday.—" The Bread of Life:' Milk. Wine. Tea and Coffee. Sugar. The 
Pleasures connected with Food. Comparison between the Food of Savage and 
Civilized Man. v. Sunday.—" Give us this Day our daily Bread.'" Agriculture 
of the Greeks.— Their Harvest. Agriculture of the Romans. Their Harvest. 
Progress of British Agriculture. Modern Continental Agriculture. 

HUMAN CLOTHING. 

Its Principle. Its Primitive State, vi. Sunday. — The Emptiness of Human 
Attainments. Its Ancient History. Commercial History of the Raw Material. 
The Silk Manufacture.— Its Modern History, History of Mechanical Contrivances 
connected with it. Rearing of the Cocoons, &c. The Cotton Manufacture.— Its 
Foreign History, vii. Sunday.— TAe Intellectual and Moral Enjoyments of 
Heaven. The Cotton Manufacture —Its British History. Improvement of Ma- 
chinerv. Its American History.- Introduction of Steam Power. The Woollen 
Manufacture— Its History. The Art of Bleaching. The Art of Dyeing.— Its 
Origin and Ancient History, vm. Sunday.— T/je Social and Religious Enjoy- 
ments of Heaven. The Art of Dyeing.— Its Modern History. Its Chemical 
Principles. 

architecture. 

Its Principle. Its original State.— Materials employed. Tools employed. Its 
Modifications by the Influence of Habit and Religion, ii. Sunday.— T/^e Chil- 
dren of the World iviser than the Children of Light. Architecture.— Ancient His- 
tory and Practice.— Egvpt.— Thebes. The Pyramids. India.— Excavated Temples. 
Central Asia.— Tower of Babel, or Temple of Belas. Babylon. Nineveh. Petra. 
Greece, x. Shndvy. — Divine Strength made perfect in Human Weakness. Rome. 
The Gothic Style. Britain. Bridges. Aqueducts. Railways, xi. Sunday.- -4n 
Autumnal Sabbath Evening. Prospective Improvement of Locomotive Power. 
Lighthouses— The Eddystone Lighthouse. The Thames Tunnel. 



CLOSE OF AUTUMN. 

Miscellaneous Heflections on Auinmna! Appearances. The Landscape at lh« 
Close of Autumn, xii. SvaoK-v.—Tht Fall of the Leaf. 

OENEnAL Sl'MMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

Government of the World by General Laws. Guvtrnnicnt of the WorlJ by 
Tarticular Providence. Contrast between Suvage and Civiliied Life, as regards 
the Arts. As regards Domestic Comforts. As regards Commerce. As regiirdi 
Moral Cultivation, xiii. Sunday.— " TAc Harvest is the End of the fVor id." 



The preceding ten volumes are now reody for delivery ;- 
and they will be followed, with all due despatch, by the 
subjoined, among others, provided they are approved hy 
the Boaid of Education, 

LIFE OF WASHINGTON, (with a portrait, and nu- 
merous engravings,) by the Rev. Charles W. Upiiam, 
Author of ' llic Life of Sir Hcnnj Vane' 

THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE UNDER PIT. 
FICULTIES ; in two volumes, with Preface and N(i 
by Francis Wayland, D. D., President of Brown Lni- 
versitij. 

THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE UNDER DIF- 
FICULTIES, illustrated by incidents in the Lives ofi 
American Lndividuals ; in one volume, with Portraits. 

HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY, in two volumes, with ilhi ' 
live wood cuts, by Roblev Dunglison, M. D., Prof 
of the Institutes of Medicine in the Jefferson Medical Coli 
Philadelphia ; Author of ' Elements of Hygiene,' ' The M 
cal Student,' ' Pnnciples of Medical Practice,' S^'c. Sfc. 

CHEMISTRY, with illustrative wood cuts, by Benja- 
min Silliman, M. D., LL. D., Professor of Chemistry, 
Mineralogy, Sfc. in Yale College. 

ASTRONOMY, by Dennison Olmsted, Professor oj 
J^atnral Philosophy and Astronomy in Yale College. 

This work will be a popular treatise on the Science ; it will also enter 
fully into its history, and consider the subject of Natural Theology, so 
far as it is related to Astronomy. 

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, by Professor Olmsted. 

Both of these works will be very fully illustrated by diagrams and' 
wood engravings. 



THE USEFUL ARTS, considered in connexion with 
the Applications of Science; in two volumes, with many 
cuts, by Jacob Bigelow, M. D., Professor of Materia 
Medica in Harvard Uiiiversitij, .Author of ' the Elements of 
Technology,' S^'c. Sfc. 

We subjoin a summary of the Topics discussed in the several chap- 
ters of this Important Work, that its nature and objects may be the 
more clearly understood. 

CHAPTER I. 
Outline of the History of the Arts in Ancient and Modern Times. 
Arts of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Jews, Hindoos, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, 
Dark Ages, Modern Times, Nineteenth Century. 

CHAPTER 11. 

1^ Of the Materials used in the Arts, 

Materials from the Mineral Kins^dom— Stones and Earths — Marble, Granite, 
Sienite, Freestone, Slate, Soapstone, Serjfentiiie, Gypsum, Alabaster, Chalk, 
Fluor Spar, Flint, Porphyry, Uuhrstone, Novaculite, Precious Stones, Emery, 
Lead, Pumice, Tufa, Peperino, Tripoli, Clay, Aslxr^stus, Cements, I,imestone, 
Puzzolana, Tarras. Other Cements— Muhhu. i1/(^a/.9— Iron, Copper, Lead, Tin, 
Mercury, Gold, Silver, Platina, Zinc, Antimony, Bismuth, Arsenic, Manganese, 
Kickel. Combustibles, &.c— Bitumen, Amber, Coal, Anthracite, Graphite, Peat, 
Sulphur. Materials from the F^retable Kins:dom— Wood, linrk, Oak, Hickory, 
As!i, Elm, Locust, VVild Cherry, Chestnut, Beech, Basswood, Tulip Tree, Maple, 
Birch, Button Wood, Persimmon, Black Walnut, Tupelo, Pine, Spruce, Hemlock, 
White Cedar, Cypress, Larch, Arbor Vii.T, Red Cedar, Willow, Mahogany, 
Boxwood, Lignum VitJB, Cork, Hemp, Flax, Cotton, Turpentine, Caoutchouc, 
Oils, Kesins, Starch, Gum. Materials from the Animal Kingdom — Skins, Hair, 
and Fur, Quills and Feathers, Wool, Silk, Bone and Ivory, Horn, Tortoise Shell, 
Wiiale Bone, Glue, Oil, Wax, Phosphorus. Materials used in Painting, DycinSt 
and raniishing-. 

CHAPTER HL 

Of the Form and Strength of iMaterials. 

Modes of Estimation, Stress and Strain, Resistance, Extension, Compression, 
Lateral Strain, Stilfness, Tubes, Strength, Place of Strain, Licipicut Fracture, 
Shape of Timber, Torsion, Limit of Bulk, Practical Remarks. 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Preservation of Materials. 

Stones, Metals, Organic Substances, Temperature, Dryness, Wetness, Antisep- 
tics. Timber — Felling, Seasoning. Preservation of Timber. — Preservation of 
Animal Texture — Embalming, Tanning, Parchment, Catgut, Gold Beater's Skin. 
Specimens in Natural History — Appert's Process, 

CHAPTER V. 

Of Dividing and Uniting Materials. 

Cohesion. Modes of Division— Fractnre, Cutting Machines, Penetration, Bor- 
ing and Drilling, Turning, Attrition, Sawing, Saw Mill, Circular Saw, Crushing, 
Stamping Mill, Bark Mill, Oil Mill, Sugar Mill, Cider Mill, Grinding, Grist Mill, 
Color Mill. Modes of (77ZJon— Insertion, Interposition, Binding, Locking, Ce- 
menting, Glueing, Welding, Soldering, Casting, Fluxes, Moulds. 



10 

CHAPTER VI. 

Of Changing the Color of Materials. 

Of Applying Superficial Colur — Piiinting, Colors, Preparation, Applicatiot 

Crayons, VViiter Colors, Distemper, Fresco, Encaustic Painting, Oil Painting 

Varnishing, Japanninjj, Polishing, Lacquering, Gilding. Of Chan^ins: Intrinsi 

Co/or—li leaching, Photogenic Drawing, Dyeing, Mordants, Dyes, Calico Printing 

CHAPTER VII. 
The Arts of Writing and Printing. 
Letters. Invention of Letters, Arrangement of Letters, Writing Material*. 
Pai)yrus,]Ierculaueum, Manuscripts, Parchment, Paper, Instruments, Ink, C()|>y 
ing Machines, Printing, Types, Cases, Sizes, Composing, Imposing, Signatures 
Correcting the Press, Press Work, Printing Press, Stereotyping, Machine Print 
ing. History. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Arts of Designing and Painting. 

Divisions, Pcrspcrtive, Field of Vision, Distance and Foreshortening, Difiiii- 
tions. Plate 11— Problems, Instrumental, Perspective, Mechanical Perspeciive, 
Perspectographs, Projections, Isometrical Persjiective, Chiaro Oscuro, Light and 
Shade, Association, Direction of Light, Reflected Light, Expression of Sh:ii)e. 
Eyes of a Portrait— Shadows, Aerial Perspective, Coloring, Colors, Shades, Tone, 
Harmony, Contrast. Remarks. 

CHAPTER IX. 
Arts of Engraving and Lithography. 
Engraving, Origin, Materials, Instruments, Styles, Line, Engraving, Medal 
Ruling, Sti|>j)liiig, Euhing, Mezzo-tinto, Aqua Tinta, Copperplate Printing, Col- 
ored Engravings, Steel Engraving, Wood Engraving. Lithography— PrinciiiJcs, 
Origin, Lithographic Stones, Preparation, Lithograjjhic Ink and Clialk, Mode of* 
Drawing, Etching tlie Stone, Printing, Printing Ink. Remarks. 

CHAPTER X. 

Of Sculpture, Modelling, and Casting. 

Subjects — Modelling, Casting in Plaster, Bronze Casting, Practice of Sculpture, 
Materials, Objects of Sculpture, Gem Engraving, Cameos, Intaglios, Mosaic, 
Scagliola. 

CHAPTER XL 
Of Architecture and Building. 
Architecture— Elements, Foundations, Column, Wall, Lintel, Arch, Abutments, 
Arcade, Vault, Dome, Plate I, Roof, Styles of Hnilding, Definitions, Measures, 
Drawings, Restorations, Es^yptian Style, The Chinese Style, The Grecian 67 , 
Orders of .Architecture— Doric Order, Ionic Order, Corinthian Order, Caryati 
Grecian Temple, Grecian Theatre, Remarks, Plate IV, Roman Style, Tn- i 
Order, Roman Doric, Roman Ionic, Composite Order, Roman Structures. Re- 
marks, Plate V, (ireco-Gothic Style, Saracenic Style, Gothic Style, Definitions, 
Plate VI, Plate VII, Application. 

CHAPTER XII. 

Arts of Heating and Ventilation. 

Production of Tfeat—Fue], Weight of Fuel, Combustible Matter of Fuel, Water 
in Fuel, Charcoal, Communication of Heat, Radiated and Conducted Heat, Fire 
in the Open Air, Fire Places, Admission of Cold Air, Open Fires, Franklin Stove, 
Rumford Fire Place, Double Fire Place, Coal Grate, Anthracite Grate, Burns* 
Grate, Building a Fire, Furnaces, Stoves, Russian Stove, Cockle, Cellar Stoves, 
and Air Flues, Heating by Water, Ileatins bv Steam, Retention of Heat, Causes 
of Loss, Crevices, Chimneys, Entries and Skv Lights, Windows, f'entilation Ob- 
jects, Modes, Ventilators, Culverts, Smoky Rooms, Damp Chimneys, Large Fire 



II 

laces, Close Rooms. Contiguous Doors, Sliort Chimneys, Opposite Fire Places, 
I'eighboring Eminences, Turncap, &c., Contiguous Flues. Burning cf Smoke. 

CHAPTER XIII, 

Arts of Illumination. 
Flame— Support of Flame, Torches and Candles, Lamps, Reservoirs, Astral 
amp, Hydrostatic Lamps, Automaton Lamp, Mechanical Lamps, Fountain Lamp, 
rgand Lamp, Reflectors, Hanging of Pictures, Transparency of Flame, Glass 
hades, Sinumbral Lamp, Measurement of Light, Gas Lights, Coal Gas, Oil Gas, 
asometer, Portable Gas Lights, Safety Lamp, Lamp without Flame, Modes of 
rocuring Light. 

CHAPTER XIV, 

Arts of Locomotion. 
Motion of Animals, Inertia, Aids to Locomotion, Wheel Cariage««, Wheels, Rol- 
!rs, Size of Wheels, Line of Traction, Bruad Wheels, Form of Wheels, A.xlotrees, 
prings. Attaching of Horses, Highways, Roads, Pavements, MoAdam Roads, 
rid"-es, 1, Wooden Bridges, 2, Stone Bridges, 3, Cast Iron Bridges, 4, Suspeit- 
;on Bridges, 5, Floating Bridges, Rail Roads, Edge Railway, Tram Road, Single 
.ail, Passings, Propelling Power, Locomotive Engines, Cana/s^ Embankments, 
queducts, Tunnels, Gates and Weirs, Locks, Boats, Size of Canals, Sui/in^, Form 
fa Ship, Keel and Rudder, Effect of the Wind, Stability of a Ship, Steam Boats, 
)ivin^ Belt, Submarine Navigation, Aerostation, Balloon, Parachute. 

CHAPTER XV. 

Elements of Machinery. 

Machines, Motion, Rotanj or Circular Motion, Band Wheels, Rag Wheels, 
■•oothed Wheels, Spiral Gear, Bevel Gear, Crown Wheel, Universal Ji>int, Per- 
letual Screw, Brush Wheels, Ratchet Wheel, Distant Rotary Motion, Change of 
''elocity. Fusee, Alternate or Reciprocatins; Motion, Cams, Crank, Parallel Mo- 
ion, Sun and Planet Wheel, Inclined Wheel, Epicycloidal Wheel, Rack and Seg- 
nent, Rack and Pinion, Belt and Segment, Scapements, Continued Rectilinear 
Motion, Band, Rack, Universal Lever, Screw, Change of Direction, Toggle Joint, 
')/ En^a'-ing and Diaengagins Machinery, 0/ Equalizing Motion, Governor, 
?ly Wheel, Friction, Remarks. 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Of the Moving Forces used in the Arts. 

Sources of Power, Vehicles of Power, Animal Power, Men, Horses, Water 
Power Overshot Wheel, Chain Wheel, Undershot Wheel, Back Water, Besant's 
Wheel Lambert's Wheel, Breast Wheel, Horizontal Wheel, Barker's Mill, Wind 
Power, Vertical Windmill, Adjustment of Sails, Horizontal Windmill, Steam 
Power, Steam, Applications of Steam, By Condensation, By Generation, By Ex- 
pansion, The Steam Engine, Boiler Appendages, Engine, Noncondensing Engme, 
Condensing Engines, Description, Expansion, Engines, Valves, Pistons, Parallel 
Motion, Historical Remarks, Projected Improvements, Rotative Engines, Use of 
Steam at High Temperatures, Use of Vapors of Low Temperature, Gas Engines, 
Steam Carriages, Steam Gun, Gunpowder, Manufacture, Detonation, Force, Pro- 
perties of a Gun, Blasting. 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Arts of Conveying Water. 

Of Conducting ^Tafer— Aqueducts, Water Pipes, Friction of Pipes, Obstruction 
of Pipes, Svphon, Of Raising Water, Scoop Wheel, Persian Wheel, Noria, Rope 
Pump, Hydreole, Archimedes' Screw, Spiral Pump, Centrifugal Pump, Common 
Pumps, Forcing Pumps, Plunger Pump, Delahire's Pump, Hydrostatic Press, 
Liftin<^ Pump, Bag Pump, Double Acting Pump, Rolling Pump, Eccentric Pump, 
Arrangement of Pipes, Chain Pump, Schemnitz Vessels, or Hungarian Machine, 
Hero's Fountain, Atmospheric Machines, Hydraulic Ram, Of Projecting Water. 
Fountains, Fire Engines, Throwing Wheel. 



12 

CIIAPTEH XVIII. 

Arts of Combining Flexible Fibres. 

Theory of Twisllns, Rope Milking, Cotton Manufacture, Elcmcnt.irv Inven 
fioiis, Batting, CiirJing. Druwinir, lloving, Spinning, Mule S])iMning, Warping 
Dressing, Weaving, Twilling, Double Weaving, Cross Weaving, Lace, Carpeting 
Tapestry, Velvets, Linens, fyoolens, Felting, Paper Making. 

CIlArTER XIX. 
Arts of Horology. 
Sun Dial, Clepsydra, Water Clock, Clock Work, Maintaining Power, R( 
ing Mov( iMi-nt, IVnduluni, Ilalunce, Scapernent, Description of a Clock, St: 
Tart, Description of a Watch. 

CHAPTER XX. 

Arts of Metallurgy. 

Extraction of Metals, Assaying, Alloys, Gold, Extraction, Ciipcllation, Partiiifi 
Cementation, Alloy, Working, Gold Beating, Gilding on Metals, Gold W i.« 
Silver, Extraction, Working, Coining, Plating, Copper, Extraction, Woi 
Brass, Manufacture, Buttons, Pins, Bronze, Ara^y, Extraction, Manufacture, - 
Leail, Lead Pipes, Leaden Shot, Tin, Block Tin, Tin Plates, Silvering of Mi 
Iron, Smelting, Crude Iron, Casting, Malleable Iron, Forging, Rolling aini 
ting, Wire Drawing, Nail Making, Gun Making, Steel, Alloys of Steel, Case i: 
ening, Tempering, Cutlery. 

CHAPTER XXL 

Arts of Vitrification. 

Glass, Materials, Crown Glass, Fritting, Melting, Blowing, Annealing, Broad' 
Glass, Flint Glass, Battle Glass, Cylinder Glass, Plate Glass, .Moulding, Pressing, 
Cutting, Stained Glass, Enamelling, .\rtificial Gems, Devitrification, Reaumur's 
Porcelain, Crystallo-Ceramie, Glass Thread, Remarks. 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Arts of Induration by Ileat. 
Bricks, Tiles, Terra Cotta, Crucibles, Pottery, Operations, Stone Ware, White 
Ware, Throwing, Pressing, Casting, Burning, Printing, Glazing, China Ware, 
European Porcelain, Etruscan Vases. 

A FAMILIAR TREATISE ON THE CONSTITU- 
TION OF THE UNITED STATES, by the Hon. Judge 
Story, L L. D., .Author of ' Commentaries on the Constitu- 
tion,^ Sfc. 

LIFE OF DR. FRANKLIN. 

SELECTIONS FROM THE WRITINGS OF 
FRANKLIN, by Jared Sparks, LL. D., Professor of His- 
torif in Harvard University, Author of ' the Life and UYilin^s 
of Washington,' ' the Life and JVritings of Franklin,' Sfc 4^c. 

CHRISTIANITY AND KNOWLEDGE, by the Rev. 
Royal Robbins. 

The design of this Work is to show what Christianity has done for 
tlie human intellect, and what that has done for Christianity. 



13 

THE LORD OF THE SOIL, OR, PICTURES OF 
AGRICULTURAL LIFE ; by Rev. Warren Burton, 
Author of The District School as it Jfas,' Sfc. Sfc. 

SCIENCE AND THE ARTS, by the Rev. Aloxzo 
Potter, D. D., Professor of Moral Philosophy and Rhetoric, 
in Union College, Schenectady, JV. Y. 

The design of this Work is to call attention to the fact that the Arts 
are the result o^ intelligence — that they have, each one its principles 
or iheorxj — that these principles are furnished by Science, and that he, 
therefore, who would understand the Arts, inust know something of 
Science ; while, on the other hand, he who would see the true power 
and worth of Science ought to study it in its applications. The work 
will be made up o[ facts, illustrating and enforcing these views — so ar- 
ranged as to exhibit the mvariable connexion between processes in Art, 
and lairs in JWiture. The importance of such a work requires no 
comment. 

AGRICULTURE, by the Hon. Judge Buel, of Albany, 
Editor of ' the Cultivator.'' 

This Work is intended as an aid to the Young Farmer, and from 
the known character of the gentleman who has it in hand, there can be 
no doubt but that it will be executed in a highly satisfactory manner. 
The following, among other subjects, will be therein treated of, viz. 

1. The Importance of Agriculture to a Nation. 

2. Iiuproveineiit in our Agriculture practicable and necessary, 
'3. Some of the principles of the new and improved Husbandry. 

4. Agriculture considered as an Employment. 

5. Earths and Soils. 

6. Improvt'nent of the Soil. 

7. Analogy between Animal and Vegetable Nutrition. 

8. Further Improvement of the Soil. 

9. " " by Manures, Animal and Vegetable. 

10. " " by Mineral Manures. 

11. Trinciplcs and Operations of Draining. 

12. Principles of Tillage. 

13 Operations of Tillage, «fcc. «fcc. 

Due notice will also be taken of alternating crops, root husbandry, mixed hus- 
bandry, the management of pasture and meadow lands, the garden, orchard, &c. 

Cuts, illustrative of the various operations spoken of and recommended, will 
be given. 

GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY, by Charles T. 
Jackson, M. D., Geological Surveyor of Maine and Rhode 
Island. 

STATISTICS OF THE UNITED STATES, by 

George Tucker, Professor of Moral Philosophy in the Uni" 
versity of Virginia, Author of ^ the Life of Jefferson,^ Sfc. Sfc. 



14 



i 



AMERICAN TREES AND PLANTS, used for medi- 
cinal and economical purposes and employed in the Arts, 
with numerous engravings ; by Professor Jacob Bigelow, 
Author of ' Plants of Boston,' 'Medical Botany/ Sfc. Sfc. 

MORAL EFFECTS OF LNTERNAL IMPROVE- 
MENTS, by Robert Rantoul, Jr., Esq. 

LIVES OF THE REFORMERS, by Rev. Romeo El- 
TON, Professor of Languages in Brown University. 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF DISTINGUISH- 
ED FEMALES, by Mrs. Emma C. Emburv, o^ Brooklyn, 
A*. F. 

SKETCHES OF AMERICAN CHARACTER, by 
Mrs. Sarah J. Hale, Editor of ' the Ladies' Book,* Author 
of the ^Ladies' IVrcath,' ' Flora's Interpreter,' S^'c. Sfc. 

DO RIGHT AND HAVE RIGHT, by Mrs. Almira 
H. Lincoln Phelps, Principal of the Literary Department 
of the Young Ladies' Seminary, at JVest Chester, Pa., 
formerly of the Troy Seminary, JY. Y., Author of ' Familiar 
Lectures on Botany,' 'Female Student,' S)C. 

The object of this Work may be gathered from the following re- 
marks of Mrs. Phelps. " A popular work on the principles of law, with 
stories illustrating these principles, might be very profitable to people 
in common life, as well as to children. The ward cheated by a guard- 
ian, the icidow imposed on by administrators or executors, the wife 
abandoned by a husband, with whom she had trusted her paternal in- 
heritance, the partner in business, overreached by his crafty associate, 
for want of a knowledge of the operations of the law, — all these might 
be exhibited in such a way as to teach the necessity of legal knowledge 
to both sexes, and to all ages and classes." 

SCENES IN THE LIFE OF JOANNA OF SICILY, 
by Mrs. E. F. Ellet, of Columbia, S. C. 

This is written with a view to young readers, and for the purpose of 
illustrating important historical events. 

The Publishers have also in preparation for this Series, 
a History of the United States, and of other Countries, a 
History of the Aborigines of our Country, a History of 
Inventions, Works on Botany, Natural History, &c. &c. 
Many distinguished writers, not here mentioned, have been 
engaged, whose names will be in due time announced, 
although at present, we do not feel at liberty to make them 
public. 



15 

Amoncr the works prepared, and in a state of forward- 
ness, for^'the Juvenile Series are the following, viz. 

MEANS AND ENDS, OR SELF TRAINING, by Miss 
Caroline Sedgwick, Author of ' The Poor Rich Man, 
and Rich Poor Man,' ' Uve and Let Live,' ' Home,' S^c. S^x. 

NEW-ENGLAND HISTORICAL SKETCHES, by 
N Hawthorxe, Aidhor of Twice Told Tales,' S,x. 

CONV^ERSATIONS AND STORIES BY THE 
FIRE SIDE, by Mrs. Sarah J. Hale, 

FAILURE NOT RUIN, by Horatio G. Hale, A. M. 

TALES IN PROSP::, blending instruction with amuse- 
ment ; by Miss Mary E. Lee, of Charleston, S. C. 

PICTURES OF EARLY LIFE :— Stories; each in- 
culcating some moral lesson ; by Mrs. Emma C. Ejibury, 
o^Broohhn, JV. Y. 

FREDERICK HASKELL'S VOYAGE ROUND 
THE WORLD, by H. G. Hale, A. M., Philologist to 
the Explorins; Expedition. 

BIOGRAPHY FOR THE YOUNG, by Miss E. Rob- 
bins, Author of ' American Popular Lessons,' Sequel to the 

same, Sfc. 

THE WONDERS OF NATURE, by A. J. Stansbury, 
Esq., of Washington City ; illustrated by numerous cuts. 

WORKS OF ART, by the same ; illustrated by numer- 
ous cuts. 

PLEASURES OF TASTE, and other Stories select- 
ed from the Writings of Jane Taylor, with a sketch of her 
life, (and a likeness,) by Mrs. S. J. Hale. 

SELECTIONS FROM THE WORKS OF MRS. 
BARBAULD, with a Life and Portrait. 

SELECTIONS FROM THE WORKS OF MARIA 
EDGEWORTH, ivilh a Life and Portrait. 

SELECTIONS FROM THE WORKS OF MRS. 
SHEK\yOOT>,ivithaLife and Portrait. 

SELECTIONS FROM THE WORKS OF DR. 
AIKIN, with a Sketch of his Life, by Mrs. Hale. 

CHEMISTRY FOR BEGINNERS, by Benjamin Sil- 
LiiviAN, Jr., Assistant in the Department of Chemistry, Min- 
eralogy, and Geology in Yale College ; aided by Professor 
Silliman. 



16 

MY SCHOOLS AND MY TEACHERS, by Mrs. A. 
H. Lincoln Phelps. 

The author's design, in this work, is to describe the Common Schools 
as they were in New-England at the beginning of the present century ; 
to delineate the peculiar characters of dillerent Teachers ; and to give 
a sketch of her various school companions, with their progress in after 
life, endeavoring thereby to show that the child, while at school, ia 
forming the future man, or woman. 

It is not the intention of the Publishers to drive tlu . e 
works through the Press with a raih-oad speed, in the hope 
of securing the market, by the multiplicity of the publica- 
tions cast upon the community; they rely for patronage, 
upon the intrinsic merits of the works, and consequently 
time must be allowed the writers to mature and systematize 
them. The more surely to admit of this, the two Series 
will be issued in sets of live and ten volumes at a time. 
Besides the advantage above alluded to, that will result 
from such an arrangement, it will place The School Li- 
brary within the reach of those Districts, which, from the 
limited amount of their annual funds, would not otherwise 
be enabled to procure it. 

Tiie works will be printed on paper and with tyj)e ex- 
pressly manufactured for the Iii!)rary; will be bound in 
cloth, with leather backs and corners, having gilt titles 
upon the backs, and for greater durability, cloth hinges 
inside of the covers. 

The larger Scries will be furnished to Schools, Academies, 
&.C., at scvciitij-fivc cents per volume, and the Juvenile Series 
at forty cents per volume ; which the Publishers advisedly 
declare to be cheaper, than any other scries of works that 
can be procured at home or abroad, bearing in mind their 
high intellectual character, and the style of their mechanical 
execution. 

The Publishers solicit orders from School Committees, 
Trustees, Teachers, and others, for either or both Series, 
and wish particular directions how, to whom, and to xchal 
place the books shall be forwarded. 

Annexed are Specimen Pages of the tv/o Series. 



I 



THE ARTERIES, 



271 




carried into the reservoir, and they fill it half full of water, 
C ; the mouth of the pipe, D, which is to conv^ey away 
the water, reaches into the water in the reservoir. As 
the water rises, the air is compressed : so that, although 
the pumps act alternately, the elasticity of the contained 
air acts uninterruptedly in pressing on the surface of the 
water, and raising it by the tube, D, in an equable stream. 
The elasticity of the contained air, fills up the interval 
between the actions of the pumps, and admits of no in- 
terruption to the force with which the water is propelled 
upwards. 

Surely these are sufficient indications of the necessity 
of three powers acting in propelling the blood from the 
heart. The first, is a sudden and powerful action of 
the ventricle : the second, is a contraction of the artery, 
somewhat similar, excited by its distention : the third, 
though a property independent of life, is a power permit- 
ting no interval or alternation ; it is the elasticity of the 
coats of the artery : and these three powers, duly adjust- 
ed, keep up a continued stream in the blood-vessels. It 
is true, that when an artery is wounded, the blood flows 



308 



NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



The superior sagacity of animals which hunt their 
prey, and which, consequently, depend for their liveli- 
hood upon their nose, is well known in its use ; hut not 
at all known in the organization which produces it. 

The external ears of beasts of prey, of lions, tigers, 
wolves, have their trumpet-part, or concavity, standing 
forward, to seize the sounds which are before them — 
viz., the sounds of the animals which they pursue or 
watch. The ears of animals of flight are turned back- 
ward, to give notice of the approach of their enemy from 
behind, whence he may steal upon them unseen. This 
is a critical distinction, and is mechanical ; but it may be 
suggested, and, 1 think, not without probability, that it 
is the efTect of continual habit. 




[Heads of the hare and wolf, showing the different manner 
in which the ears are turned. — Am. Ed.] 

The eyes of animals which follow their prey by night, 
as cats, owls, &c., possess a faculty not given to those 
of other species, namely, of closing the pupil entirely. 



OF COLUMBUS. 61 

It is difficult even for the imagination to conceive the 
feelings of such a man, at the moment of so sublime a 
discovery. What a bewildering crowd of conjectures 
must have thronged upon his mind, as to the land which 
lay before him, covered with darkness. That it was 
fruitful was evident from the vegetables which floated 
from its shores. He thought, too, that he perceived in 
the balmy air the fragrance of aromatic groves. The 
moving light which he had beheld, proved that it was the 
residence of man. But what were its inhabitants? Were 
they like those of other parts of the globe ; or were they 
some strange and monstrous race, such as the imagina- 
tion in those times was prone to give to all remote and 
unknown regions? Had he come upon some wild island, 
far in the Indian seas; or was this the famed Cipango 
itself, the object of his golden fancies? A thousand 
speculations of the kind must have swarmed upon him, 
as he w^atched for tlie night to pass away; wondering 
whether the morning light would reveal a savage wilder- 
ness, or dawn upon spicy groves, and ghttering fanes, and 
gilded cities, and all the splendors of oriental civilization. 



CHAPTER XI. 

First Landing of Columbus in the J^ew World. — Cruise 
among the Bahama Islands, — Discovery of Cuba and 
Hispaniola. [1492.] 

When the day dawned, Columbus saw before him a 
level and beautiful island, several leagues in extent, of 
great freshness and verdure, and covered with trees like 
a continual orchard. Though every thing appeared in 
the W'ild luxuriance of untamed nature, yet the island was 
evidently populous, for the inhabitants were seen issuing 
from the woods, and running from all parts to the shore. 
They were all perfectly naked, and from their attitudes 
6 I. 



286 A VISIT TO PALOS. 

residence of Martin Alonzo or Vicente Yanez Pinzon. 
in the time of Columbus. 




We now anived at the church of St. George, in the 
porch of which Columbus first proclaimed to the inhabi- 
tants of Palos the order of the sovereigns, that they 
should furnish him with ships for his great voyage of dis- 
covery. This edifice has lately been thoroughly repaired, 
and, being of solid mason-work, promises to stand for 
ages, a monument of the discoverers. It stands outside 
of the village, on the brow of a hill, looking along a little 
valley toward the river. The remains of a Moorish 
arch prove it to have been a mosque in former times ; 
just above it, on the crest of the hill, is the ruin of a 
Moorish castle. 

I paused in the porch, and endeavored to recall the 
interesting scene that had taken place there, when Co- 
lumbus, accompanied by the zealous friar Juan Perez, 
caused the public notary to read the royal order in pres- 
ence of the astonished alcaldes, regidors, and alguazils ; 
but it is difficult to conceive the consternation that must 
have been struck into so remote a little community, by 
this sudden apparition of an entire stranger among them, 
bearing a command that they should put their persons 
and ships at his disposal, and sail with him away into the 
unknown wilderness of the ocean. 

The interior of the church has nothing remarkable. 



I 



THE COTTON PLANT. 335 

work of creation and the work of grace revealed in the 
word of God. Proofs corroborative of the authenticity 
Df the Bible, have been gathered from those very sources 
which formerly were applied to by the skeptic for his 
sharpest weapons ; and at this moment, (such is the secu- 
rity with which Christianity may regard the progress of 
knowledge,) there does not exist in our own country, nor, 
30 far as I am aware, in any other, one philosopher of 
3minence who has ventured to confront Christianity and 
philosophy, as manifestly contradictory. May we not 
i^enture to hope that, in a very short time, the weak darts 
of minor spirits, which from time to time are still permit- 
ted to assail our bulwarks, will be also quenched, and the 
glorious Gospel, set free from all the oppositions of sci- 
snce falsely so called, shall walk hand in hand over the 
earth with a philosophy always growing in humility, be- 
cause every day becoming more genuine. C. J. C. D. 



TWELFTH WEEK— MONDAY. 

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USED FOR WEAVING. THE COTTON- 
PLANT. 

The cotton-plant, another vegetable substance, exten- 
sively used in manufactures, difters materially from that 
already described, in its properties, appearance, and hab- 
its. Instead of being generally difiused over temperate 
climates, it belongs more properly to the torrid zone, and 
tlie regions bordering on it ; and instead of being chiefly 
confined to one species, as to its pecuhar and useful qual- 
ities, its varieties seem scarcely to have any limit, extend- 
ing from an herb* of a foot or two in height, to a treef 

* Gossypium herbaceum, or common herbaceous cotton-plant. 

t Bombdx ceiba, or American silk cotton-tree. — [The Baobab, or 
Aiansonia digWita, an enornioas and long-lived tree, also belongs to 
this fiimily. But it is incorrect to call these trees " varieties " of the 
cotton plant. They are nearly allied to it, indeed, but they stand in dif- 
ferent divisions of the great order of malvacece, or mallows ; and the 
downy contents of their pods are of little use compared with true cotton. 
— Am. Ed.] 



378 GLOSSARY. 

Coup dc main, (French term,) a military expression, denoting an in- 
stantaneous, sudden, unexpected attack upon an enemy. 
Dulce et decorum est pro patria viori, It is delightful and glorious to 

die for one's country. 
Effigies Seb. Caboti Angli filii Joannis Caboti militis aurati. As 
will be seen by the text, where this inscription occurs, (p. 121,) 
there is an ambiguity in the application of the last two words. The 
other part of the inscription, may be rendered, " the portrait 
likeness) of Sebastian Cabot, of England, son of John Cal'. 
jMiles, or militis, means, literally, a warrior, or soldier, or oliiccr 
of the army ; and in the English law, sometimes indicates a knight. 
Auratus, or aurati, means gilt, gilded, or decked with gold. Equet 
means a horseman, or knight, who was frequently called equcs aura- 
tus, because, anciently, none but knights were allowed to beautify 
their armor, and other habiliments, with gold. 
En masse, in a body, in the mass, altogether. 
Eques, and Eques auratus. See Ejjigies. 
Fascine, {p\. fascines,) a bundle of fagots, or small branches of tr; - <, 

or sticks of wood, bound together, for filling ditches, &c. 
Formula, {p]. formula!,) a prcsfribed form or order. 
Gcodcetic, relating to the art of measuring surfaces. 
Gramina, grasses. 

Green Mountain Boys, a term applied, during the Revolutionary War, 
to the inhabitants of Vermont, (Green Mountain,) particularly those 
who were in the army. 
Gi/mnotus, the electric eel. 

Jlibeas Corpus, "you may have the body." A writ, as it has been 
aptly termed, of personal freedom ; which secures, to any individual, 
who may be imprisoned, the privilege of having his cause imme- 
diately removed to the highest court, that the judges may decide 
whether there is ground for his imprisonment or not. 
Hipparchus, a celebrated mathematician and astronomer of Xic^a, ia 
Bithynia, who died 125 years before the Christian era. He was 
the first after Thales and Sulpicius Gall us, who found out the exact 
time of eclipses, of which he made a calculation for 600 years. II. -i 
supposed to have been the first, who reduced astronomy to a scici; 
and prosecuted the study of it systematically. 
Loyalists, Royalists, Refugees, and Tories. In the times of the Revo- 
lution, these terms were used as technical or party names, and were 
sometimes applied indiscriminately. Strictly speaking, however. 
Loyalists, were those whose feelings or opinions were in favor of 
the mother country, but who declined taking part in the Revolu- 
tion ; Royalists, were those who preferred or favored, a kingly gov* 
ernment ; Refugees, were those who fled from the country and 
sought the protection of the British ; and Tories, were those, who 
actually opposed the war, and took part with the enemy, aiding 
them by all the means in their power. 
Magnetic Variation, a deviation of the needle in the mariner's com- 
pass, from an exact North and South direction. 
Master-at-arms, an officer appointed to take charge of the small arms 
in a ship of war, and to teach the officers and crew the exercise of 



ISino. pages. 

MARY BOND IN A SICK-ROOM. 129 

ring it all the time. Of course I do not make it 
every time it is wanted, for sometimes, when I 
want it extra good, I boil and stir it a full hour, 
and then I put it away in a close vessel and in a 
cool place. For Raymond, or for any one get- 
ting well, and free from fever, I put in a third 
wheat flour, and half milk. You see it is a very 
simple process, sir." 

'' Yes — simple enough. But it is to these 
simple processes that people will not give their 
attention." 

^lary had the happiness of seeing Raymond 
sitting up before their parents returned, and when 
they drove into the great gate, and up the lane, 
he was in his rocking-chair by the window, watch- 
ing for them. They had heard of his illness, and 
were most thankful to find him so far recovered. 
The Doctor chanced to be present when they 
arrived. " O, Doctor !" said Mrs. Bond, after 
the first greetings were over, "how shall I ever 
be grateful enough to you ?" 

" I have done very little, Mrs. Bond," replied 
the honest Doctor. " In Raymond's case, medi- 
cine could do litde or nothing. Nature had been 
overtasked, and wanted rest and soothing. Under 
God, Raymond owes his recovery to Mary." 

"O, mother !" exclaimed Raymond, bursting 
into tears, " she is the best sister in the world !" 

" She is the best sister in the two worlds !" 
cried little Grace Bond, a child of five years old. 

A source of true comfort and happiness is such 
a child and such a sister as Mary Bond ! — a light 



138 THE LOST CHILDREN. 

US, as soon as we are missed ; let us keep on 
and perhaps we may find some other path." 

The poor children proceeded on their course, 
unconscious that every step was taking them deep- 
er in the forest, until, com})letely bewildered by 
the thick darkness, and overcome with fatigue, they 
could go no further. " Let us pray to God, and 
then we can lie down, and die in peace," said 
George • and the innocent children knelt down on 
the fallen leaves, and lisped their simple prayers, 
as they were accustomed to do at their mother's 
side. 

''We must try to find some shelter, George," 
said Kate, as they arose from their knees, '' this 
chill air will kill you, even if we escape the wild 
beasts." As she spoke, the light of a young 
moon which faintly illumined the depths of the 
wood, enabled her to discover a hollow log lying 
near. Tearing olT some branches from the little 
hemlock tree, she piled them around the log, in 
such a manner, as to form a sort of penthouse ; 
and, placing George within the more efibctual 
shelter of the log, she lay down by his side. Worn 
with fatigue, notwithstanding their fears, the chil- 
dren soon fell into a profound sleep ; and the 
beams of the morning sun, shining through the 
branches which formed their covering, first awoke 
them from their peaceful slumbers. 

Their little hearts swelled with gratitude to the 
merciful God, who had preserved them through 
the perils of the night, and the morning hymn which 
was wont to resound within the walls of their 



W^'U^'i 



o^ 









iOO. 



i ^^ 






:>^ -^ 






^^ -^^^ 









vOo. 









■'. 








■'oo'* 




v^-^ 


^*, 






oo 



.^-^ -^^^^ 






..^^ 






,-0 



,0- 









^•i-^' .v^- 

x^^-'-^ 



^/- V^^ 



^ 



:> ■'^> 



A' 






^v:^i%r'^ 



,s^> ■ 






o> » 


















• o 



.vv^^ 






■% ^' 



1 -o^^ : -n^ 






^' 


















H 



